Labour’s buy British plan ‘not about just slapping on a flag’
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has denied her threepoint plan to “buy, make and sell” more in Britain amounts to “slapping a Union Jack” on public procurement.
Labour unveiled its new policy yesterday, saying it would use social and environmental clauses in public contracts to raise standards.
It said its approach would mirror that of other countries including France and the US.
Labour would ask every public body to give more contracts to British firms, and require public bodies to report on how much they are buying from businesses in this country, Ms Reeves said.
She cited how shortages of personal protective equipment during the pandemic had highlighted concerns about insecure supply chains, as well as huge taxpayer contracts going overseas instead of to British companies.
Speaking to the BBC'S Andrew Marr Show, Ms Reeves said the policy was about taking into account the social as well as the economic value of bids.
Marr said some people in the Labour Party would be likely to feel “quite queasy” about a policy “that it is slapping a Union Jack on public procurement”.
Ms Reeves replied: “I don't think it does do that. This is actually the essence of what Labour is for, because it is about ensuring that there are good quality jobs paying a wage you can bring a family up on in all parts of the country.”
The shadow chancellor said: “If you've got two bids for public procurement whether it is for HS2 or submarines or offshore wind and one of them is creating jobs in this country – high-paid, high-skilled jobs that will result in people paying higher taxes in to the Exchequer – we give no extra weight to that bid compared to one that creates no jobs and no value in this country.”
Ms Reeves promised to lead a "culture change" in government, reviewing all major infrastructure projects to explore how to increase the materials made in Britain, and increase the skills of workers.
TUC general secretary Frances O'grady welcomed the plans, saying: "The TUC has been campaigning for Government to use public money to create decent jobs in every part of Britain. It's great to see that Labour is taking this agenda forward too."