When Sun readers go to the polls in a few weeks’ time they will be asking themselves a few very simple questions: who do they trust to lead our country?
We have the brightest scientists working out of the best universities, and our creative industries mean millions of people across the world watch and listen to the films and music made right here in Britain.
And yet that economic potential is being held back.
I’m sick and tired of meeting chief executives and entrepreneurs who tell me that they want to do more business in Britain but have been put off because of the constant churn at the top of government.
Five prime ministers, seven chancellors and nine business secretaries.
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Who do they trust to run our economy? And who do they trust to keep them safe over the next five years?
Keir Starmer and I have worked tirelessly over the past few years to regain your trust.
We have changed the Labour Party so we can put it back in the service of working people – and the manifesto we publish later this week will be the culmination of all that hard work.
It will be a serious plan for our country’s future. A plan that will be about change after years of chaos and decline. And the first chapter of that plan will be about delivering economic stability.
Because it is only with economic stability and tough spending rules that we can grow our economy to keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible.
Four years ago, the Conservatives promised the British people that they would tackle the cost of living crisis.
However, since then the typical household is £5,900 worse off.
We have seen 26 Tory tax rises, with the tax burden now the highest it has been in seventy years.
Rishi Sunak is a high tax prime minister because he is running a low growth government.
I get angry about the state of our economy because I know how much potential it has.
Before entering politics, I worked at the Bank of England as an economist and in the private sector. I have seen first-hand the world beating businesses we have here in Britain.
We are a nation of builders and inventors – from the next generation of cars to the latest phone apps.
A mini-budget that crashed the economy and triggered a financial crisis.
You would never run a business like that, so why on earth would you run our country like that?
So, Labour will stop the chaos and get on with the job of building an economy that works for Sun readers.
The Conservatives’ claims about our tax plans are lies. Our manifesto will contain an iron-clad commitment to working people that there will be no increase in national insurance, income tax or VAT.
Everything in our plans is fully funded and fully costed through the tax loopholes we would close. Nothing in our plans requires any new taxes.
But a successful economy is not about how much taxes you pay, it’s about how much growth you can get.
That’s the only way we are going to be able to put more money in your pockets and in our public services.
So, we will back the wealth creators by working with business to create 650,000 good jobs in the industries of the future and reform our planning system to build 1.5 million new homes.
Contrast that with what you will see from the Conservative Party’s manifesto this week.
A desperate wish list of unfunded promises that will never happen or put our economy at risk. The longest and most expensive manifesto in the party’s history.
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Unlike the Conservatives I am not going to promise you a tax cut without telling you where the money is going to come from or without being able to guarantee you it will be delivered
We have been here before. It was the approach Liz Truss took two years ago and it sent people’s mortgages spiralling.
I want taxes to be lower. But unlike the Conservatives I am not going to promise you a tax cut without telling you where the money is going to come from or without being able to guarantee you it will be delivered.
And the approach the Conservatives are taking now is the same as the approach Jeremy Corbyn took - and I totally reject it.
I’m not going to offer you a fantasy manifesto that writes cheques we could never cash. I will never do this.
NEW START
We are a changed Labour Party. I will never play fast and loose with your money.
We have an amazing future – but only if we choose it. On 4 July you have the chance to stop the chaos, turn the page and rebuild our country.
It won’t happen overnight and there will be difficult decisions on the way. But I know we can do it. We have stood proud in the world before and we can do so again.
So, on 4 July trust us. Give change a chance and vote Labour.
