Rachel Reeves – 2021 Comments on Public Services

The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 7 February 2021.

This Government has eroded not only our public services to the brink of collapse, but so much of what it means to be an honourable and transparent government.

While this Tory Government has denied key workers in our public services a pay rise, they paid 900 management consultants at Deloitte £1,000 a day to work on test and trace.

The beating heart of our country is the key workers who have kept us going through this last year. That’s why we applauded them. Children weren’t banging pots and pans for management consultants. They were clapping our key workers.

The public is also paying a high price for this Government’s mismanagement and waste. This current Tory Party is rife with conflicts of interest. It’s all cheques and no balances.

People expect all of us seeking government to spend their money with care and respect – and a Labour government will.

Labour will clean up government contracting by strengthening FOI, introducing a new Independent Anti-Corruption Commissioner, and an Integrity and Ethics Commission to make us a world leader in good governance and transparency.