Rachel Reeves: a social democratic Margaret Thatcher? | The New Statesman

Rachel Reeves makes a historic speech as Britain's first female Chancellor at Labour Party Conference.
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We're coming to you from Liverpool where Rachel Reeves has just delivered her keynote speech at this year's Labour Party Conference.
There were lots of smiles in the Chancellor's speech as well as the commitment to the tough economic decisions that she has to make, but has she managed to turn the page on Labour's rough beginning in government?
Hannah Barnes hears from Andrew Marr, Rachel Cunliffe, and Andy Burnham.
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[@janeknight3597]

Still no real policy. It is the budget at the end of October that will make or break her leadership claims.

[@tancdiscovery9432]

"Social democratic Margaret Thatcher?'" God help us. Liberals.. What can u say.

[@andybrice2711]

Neoliberals. Don't drag us social liberals into this.

[@TimesFM4532]

He means the vids she gave off

[@martineyles]

It's an oxymoron.

[@sebastianaminoff9703]

Social democratic Margret Thatcher is a contradiction😂😂😂

[@johnnierainey01]

Nonetheless, an interesting comparison!

[@corrbeck1999]

Andrew Marrs description of unsettling is right … She seemed to have only partial control of her face, grimacing and gurning through her hysterical deranged hollering . And when she proclaimed that they have changed the Labour Party after cheering on the arrest of a person who isn’t a fan of the government supporting a genocide. I think she hit the nail on the head .They’ve changed the Labour Party into the Tory party. I mean let’s be honest Nobody likes Starmer’s Labour and they won because everybody hated the Tory’s. And if This bunch roll out austerity 2.0 then they and us are doomed .

[@luke7708]

They're going after sickness benefits next .....'those with the broadest shoulders' and all that

[@davidlewis658]

This degree of sycophancy is absolutely incredible among political commentators. I would watch this space.

[@bigdaz7272]

Words are Wind, all she really said was she would shuffle around of the Austerity a bit that 90% of us have been living through since 2009. Nothing will improve for most of us and then the Tories will be back in. Same old same old Death rattle.

[@TimesFM4532]

Mean the 10% have been pensioners

[@taffyterrier]

The Tories are toast.

[@ianmaclean2214]

This is literally mental 😢

[@WestfaliaStuff]

'Bit better than the tories' won't cut it in the next general election.

[@j.x.x.r3645]

No but for the moment it's a welcome improvement

[@drasticplasticaustin]

Thatcher had a more nauseating manner but there's not a lot in it. Both bloody hard to stomach.

[@ras6783]

where does she magic the hope from ? It's not because of any improved data ... it's because she was told to ... the story is either doom and gloom or it isnt ...

[@evolassunglasses4673]

RR is a robot enforcing oligarchy.

[@derekwarren1862]

A self centred smile that I will remember on the 30th October

[@robertsmith9810]

Changes her mind like the wind, perhaps empty headed ,but at a party conference they clap and cheer any idiot what ever there politics , donations should be rebranded Bribes

[@martineyles]

Every year the company I work for has us go through a training course all about the Bribery Act 2010. Breaking this law carries up to a ten year prison sentence and an unlimited fine. One way to break this law is to accept expensive gifts.

[@robertsmith9810]

@@martineyles it should also noted some people get promoted to the rank of there incompetence

[@ianharding3044]

What Labour needs to remember is the lowest turnout for a general election . They only got elected by a small number of voters . They have no real mandate. The public are so fed up and disconnected from Politics currently. We have no real change going forward. They said those with the broadest shoulders would have to pay up . I don’t see that coming. Not a Labour Party anymore

[@taffyterrier]

Pensioners have the broadest shoulders?

[@californiadreamin8423]

Hot air from an armchair critic.

[@stephfoxwell4620]

Cosplay Maggie.

[@indefatigable8193]

Someone compared her to Servalan from Blake’s 7 and now I can’t unsee it.

[@JasonSheppardArtist]

you can tell Andrew Marr worked for the BBC

[@RobinHomer-p6n]

He is a relic from the 20th century and he is utterly irrelevant

[@johnnierainey01]

...and you support the Conservative Party. Nothing wrong with either.

[@RobinHomer-p6n]

@@johnnierainey01 Wrong so badly my friend, GREEN

[@RobinHomer-p6n]

@@johnnierainey01 You need to watch Mo Gawdat, Mohamed suleman, Geoffrey Hinton, Julia McCoy, Emad Mostaque, Embrace artificial intelligence, study it and understand what is currently happening and how if you are an academic you are now redundant and irrelevant, Within a matter of months artificial intelligence will be hundreds of times more intelligent than humanity, in a matter of years thousands of times. Combined with humanoid robots, which are neurally networked, humanity is in real trouble, I suggest you research what a neurally networked robot is and its capacities. Then you will understand why the European Union is an irrelevant region of the world and the kings of supremacy are and will continue to be DYNAMIC China and the DYNAMIC United States of America, And rightly so, they have done the work 👍👍👍

[@pamalala11]

No love lost between Rachel Thieves and Angela Grifter check out the looks. Andrew Marr is a clown. That speech wasn’t impassioned. It was a very bad attempt at smiling and her speech had no passion. Misplaced optimism methinks.

[@andybrice2711]

I just don't really trust anything she says now. Her approach to the Winter Fuel Allowance seems utterly bizarre. I've seen many reasonable proposals for how to temper the negative effects. And she steadfastly refuses even to consider any of them. Whilst making spurious excuses. That suggests to me she's pursuing some agenda other than what she presents to the public.

[@RobinHomer-p6n]

Catastrophic job losses in already decimated red wall towns and cities are on the horizon if any of these policies are enacted……

[@californiadreamin8423]

The 9 month KZbinr prophet of doom.

[@terrancehall9762]

They are reaching so hard.

[@TootlinGeoff]

A Social Democratic Margaret Thatcher? Well; Thatcher had to back down on the poll tax and we got council tax - a graduated poll tax. Reeves will have to do likewise on winter fuel allowance. Not abandon the policy but soften it. Broaden those who qualify it.

[@taffyterrier]

Thatcher did not back down on the poll tax.

[@MrGavinBoyd]

CHANGE: keeping the Tory two-child benefit cap. 🤷🏼‍♂😡🤮

[@bruceplenderleith838]

and the smoking ban and "benefit reform" to the letter

[@lewis9159]

Rachel Reeves isn't a social democrat and she doesn't have the charisma or force of will that Thatcher (unfortunately) had

[@inspectahwoke5746]

Hard to determine yet. We'll see in a few years.

[@briandelaney9710]

She’s completely unimaginative. Second tier New Labour

[@Red-px1fr]

Rancid, vile. A hollowed out husk of a person in a hollowed out husk of a party.

[@californiadreamin8423]

Your ulcer playing up again ? Which of our 40 new hospitals do you propose using ?

[@johnallen3423]

It could be the "final curtain" for some pensioners this winter. Let's hope she reconsiders her harsh policy in the budget. Warm home discount is out as well..

[@abstract33]

Historic Speech but what did she say that had any content?

[@johnnierainey01]

Patience is a virtue!

[@andybrice2711]

Is it historic? We've had three female Prime Ministers over the past 40 years. So it's hardly miraculous that we now also have a female chancellor. I think most people are fed up with politics which focuses on identity above substantial policy making a material difference to the lives of normal people.

[@JupiterThunder]

Thatcher was a woman. PM in 1979. What is she talking about? Andrew Marr talking abject rubbish as usual.

[@malcolmmitchell6529]

I remember when this was a serious publication.

[@williama-d6]

I remember them saying that education education education thing I was in secondary school at that time

[@taffyterrier]

Dumbed down education, dumbed down education, dumbed down education.

[@waikanaebeach]

Actions speak louder than words. Not cancelling the two child limit, cancelling pensioner fuel benefit shows her neoliberal and neoclassical economic roots…. Thatcher killed British industry created the 1987 crash and destroyed collective worker rights - nothing socialist about thatcher extreme policies.

[@californiadreamin8423]

Neoliberal and now neoclassical !!! Did you write that script yourself ?

[@bruceplenderleith838]

turning into tories is nothing new

[@Susan-s3d]

She doesn't convince me that she even believes what she's saying. She was shaking and gagging all the way through. Marr is full of tosh!

[@martycrow]

Has Reeves been reminded to smile, as Gordon Brown was? She's not terribly good at it, is she? Also, we've had three women PMs since the 70s. How did that go?

[@oregrocker4776]

Significant growth cannot be achieved without joining the single market and the customs union.

[@RobinHomer-p6n]

@@oregrocker4776 Rubbish, European Union is stagnating, because it is wrapped up in regulation, and does not have a Meta, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Palo Alto networks, Open AI, IBM or significant semiconductor industry with the exception of the Dutch ASML. Tesla, Figure AI inc, and Boston dynamics the world leading robotics companies, tell me the name of a European robotics company with significant presence ? The world is embracing the fourth industrial revolution and Europe is a has-been. I would strongly suggest you research each of these companies carefully and you will have a shock and esoteric crises as the European Union and Britain are now losers , The left behind 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@anthonybrown4874]

Difficult moment fir the Kabour party given the necessity of ensuring only the pensioners that require winter fuel payments to have a liveable winter receive it bit of an ask though as Pension Credit is a bit of a gateway all or nothing benefit but welfare requires reform we all know it. The optics of receiving gifts from party sponsors was too little exploited by Labour in opposition now we kind of know why, so work to do being more open and putting the corrupt Conservatives to the sword. The budget is a pivotal moment though as living on increasing debt is not acceptable to a fairly pragmatic voting majority if they can make taxation fairer even if the overall burden is higher and explain it in a way that makes sense as it was pretty clear the Tories ensured their wealthy backers were well taken care of with lower rates of tax in the areas where they receive their wealth. Equally ensuring we are not a wasters and spongers paradise is quite a challenge where all Joe public sees is migrants getting everything along with our generations of homegrown benefit experts who know the system well enough to live well and never contribute. I eagerly await the revolution in the wsy the country is run where it was obvious a group of backers gets rewarded.

[@RobinHomer-p6n]

@@anthonybrown4874 No politician should receive any form of donation or gift it is corruption in a physical form rather than a brown bag of cash

[@RobinHomer-p6n]

@@anthonybrown4874 Revolution is not the way forward, revolution indicates violence, this is not acceptable democracy through peace is the way forward please examine how Gandhi opposed the British in India, peace for a change is powerful 👍👍👍

[@ricesnot]

How can they possibly be so excited

[@alexshawwest]

She has no style and there was no substance, Andrew marr is simply too partisan to see and hear. Also the ‘smile’ was very weird

[@suzyqualcast6269]

What's the former red n spike head Wilmott Street Julia 'Manning' reckon bout all this, or has she vacated the room, again ¿?

[@evolassunglasses4673]

Over promoted box ticker.

[@NMonte1000]

No! Mragaret Thatcher didn't take her salary - Reeves seems happy to take everything.

[@taffyterrier]

Thatcher didn’t pay her inheritance tax.

[@onthebeachinsitges]

It's a bit of a rough start

[@Charles61284]

Out in 2029 if not earlier

[@pswestport]

Please stop smiling we’re not stupid. 🙄

[@Charles61284]

She’s an awful right winger like Starmer, the sooner both are gone the better.

[@billgateseviltyrant]

Is she not a bit shoutie on stage? Still waiting for their first idea...

[@doug1570]

I am really pleased I have unsubscribed from the New Statesman. I have never listened to so much nonsense in my life.

[@liamb8644]

Yuck, don’t even think about mentioning this flop in the same sentence as the Great Lady.

[@taffyterrier]

Thatcher, Thatcher, Council House Snatcher

[@VinceLammas]

Thanks to an obsession with Brexit and their own internal strife the Conservatives Party blew a gaping hole in their previous credibility with the economically literate and anyone who understands the role business plays in employment and helping to provide the most of the products we all depend upon. Why am I not surprise that journalists are the most cynical audience for every political speech? Neither am I surprised that many people remain sceptical until they see the direct benefits of growth and greater prosperity. May people just dont want to hear the reality that any significant change takes time - and very probably more than 3 months.

[@georgethompson453]

Saving from scrapping winter fuel allowance virtually lost in tax revenue from flatlining economy since July budget announcement. Very bad politics

[@sandysanderson8588]

Forced smile, so fake Rachel.

[@ianfraser6161]

Sour grapes

[@Lorraine-p4r]

Far lefties only here.

[@michellebarbour5777]

Reading all these posts - seems like misery and doom are our favourite flavour. i'm waiting for the budget but for one, small day, I'll take positive, relatively up-beat, smiling flavour.

[@andyniblock43]

How insulting to compare her to Margaret Thatcher, a woman of absolute integrity who bought her own clothes.

[@andrewhead6267]

You are obviously unaware of all the gifts and sponsorships Thatcher received as PM. Including the undeclared jewels worth £100,00s from the president of OPEC. Plus of course she gave her own husband a hereditary title. A practice abandoned by her predecessors decades before.

[@taffyterrier]

Thatcher, Thatcher, Council House Snatcher

[@martineyles]

0:43 She has already squandered the trust many Labour party voters put in her and her party during the election.

[@martineyles]

0:32 I hope she doesn't mean that they have changed the party into the Conservative Party.