Mel Stride: Labour’s economic mismanagement is killing growth, and making society less fair

Sir Mel Stride, is the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

When hard-working Britons look around today, many are left asking the same question: Why does it feel like those who work hard and play by the rules are the ones being punished?

Under Labour, we are witnessing the rise of an unfair economy – one that discourages effort, disincentivises success, and taxes aspiration. One that seems to prioritise the takers, not the makers in our society. That’s not just bad economics. It’s bad values.

Labour claims they are on the side of working people, but that is far from the reality. Today, those who strive, save, and contribute are too often being disadvantaged, while those who don’t are handed rewards. That’s not real fairness – it’s a betrayal of Britain’s work ethic.

Take illegal migration. While millions of Britons are tightening their belts, they see those who have entered the country illegally being provided with free hotel rooms, meals, clothing, healthcare, and spending money – all funded by the taxpayer. Labour is taxing jobs to fund benefits. It’s illegal migrants first, British workers last.

The asylum system is broken, and Labour have no plan to fix it. In fact, they are making it worse – scrapping key deterrents and dithering on enforcement. We are spending £6 million a day housing migrants in hotels, while British families wait weeks to see a GP. Whose side is the Chancellor really on?

And then there’s welfare. Labour quietly dismantled Conservative reforms that encouraged people back into work.

The result? A rapidly rising welfare bill. A growing number of people of working age are ending up on benefits, even as businesses up and down the country face staff shortages. It is now easier under Labour to opt out of working than to get ahead by contributing more. All this is being funded by extra borrowing. Everything borrowed today is money our children must repay – with interest. Rachel Reeves is bankrupting the next generation to pay for her failures right now. That’s not fairness – it’s intergenerational robbery. And bizarrely Reform wants to double down on this – boasting that they plan to give away even more in welfare.

Meanwhile, crime is spiralling. Shoplifting has hit record highs – and Labour’s answer is to look the other way. Criminals walk free while store owners count the cost. Retailers are losing over £2 billion a year to theft, with the average family now paying £133 more annually on food. It’s clear: under Labour, if you play by the rules, you’re on your own. If you break them, you’ll be looked after.

And let’s be clear, this is not just about mismanagement. It’s about misplaced priorities. While illegal migrants are handed full board and shoplifters are spared consequences, those who have worked hard all their lives – farmers, pensioners, business owners – are being hit with higher taxes and less support. That’s what I mean by putting the takers ahead of the makers.

Labour’s economic approach is a raid. A raid on your savings, your pension, your home, and your children’s future. Given the Chancellor’s economic mismanagement, Rachel Reeves is preparing yet more tax rises in the autumn. They are literally putting up taxes because her last round of taxes killed growth. Over the summer Labour have been rolling the pitch for taxes on homes, pay packets, pensions and inheritance. Why? Because Labour’s sums don’t add up – and rather than face down waste or reform welfare, they’ll simply dig deeper into people’s pockets. Rachel Reeves is taxing our future to fund her failure.

Take the Chancellor’s ‘Jobs Tax’. At a time when we need to unleash innovation and back our entrepreneurs, Labour is punishing employers for creating jobs. It’s a tax on growth. It’s a tax on ambition.

Then there’s the stealth tax rise hitting millions. Labour have kept income tax thresholds frozen, meaning pensioners living solely off the state pension are due to be dragged into paying income tax. And if the briefings to the papers are anything to go by, we could see the thresholds frozen still further at the Budget, despite the Chancellor saying last year this would hurt working people.

And yet, while ordinary families and businesses are being squeezed, Labour are signing blank cheques for their union backers. Junior doctors and train drivers have received inflation-busting pay rises – without a single productivity reform attached. These aren’t sensible settlements. They’re political payoffs. And now the unions are back for more. Tube workers are threatening a week-long strike, causing chaos in our capital and pain for commuters. Labour won’t lift a finger to stop them. Why would they? These are the very unions that bankroll their campaigns.

This is not fairness, it’s not leadership, and it’s certainly not in the national interest.

Labour’s version of “fairness” is nothing more than the politics of envy. Their tax-and-spend agenda is class warfare dressed up as compassion. There’s nothing fair about taxing people simply because they’ve worked hard, built something of value, and want to pass it on to their children.

In opposition, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves promised to back working families. In government, they’re doing the opposite: raiding savings, punishing investment, and rewarding those who contribute the least.

Meanwhile, they’ve abandoned every serious effort to grow the economy. There’s no plan to support small businesses. No plan to increase productivity. No plan to bring down bills. No plan to get people off welfare and into work. Just more tax, more handouts, more debt.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Britain needs a government that stands up for those who do the right thing – who work, save, build, and give back. We need leadership that will back aspiration, reward responsibility, and make sure that those who contribute are respected, not punished.

Only the Conservatives will restore real fairness to our economy. Only we will get immigration back under control, live within our means, deliver a welfare system that works, stand up to the unions, and champion the people who make this country great.

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