Healey promises a new age of industrialisation

John Healey has promised "a new age of industrialisation" in his first speech to Labour's conference as Chancellor, combining a pledge of new industrial investment with a firm message on welfare and the public finances.

Speaking in Liverpool on Monday, Mr Healey told delegates that the Government would stick to its rules on borrowing, warning that "there's nothing progressive about losing control. Because it's working people who pay for it."

Work and welfare

The Chancellor said that nearly one million young people were out of work or training, and that two thirds of them had never had a job. He said benefits "should be a bridge to work, to wider participation, to a better life, not a trap that people can't escape."

"It is simply not progressive to allow a bigger and bigger benefits bill and a system which offers an income but doesn't offer a future," he said.

He announced a new national apprenticeship service to help young people into work, and the return of the Union Learning Fund, which pays for union learning representatives to help workers take up training.

Industry and jobs

Mr Healey spoke about his own South Yorkshire roots and the loss of industrial jobs in the 1980s and 1990s. "The jobs went away. Hope and opportunity went too," he said.

The speech followed announcements over the weekend of three new floating submarine docks at Faslane, to be built through a UK-only competition, and 115 million pounds for a new marine research ship.

An attack on Reform

The Chancellor also turned on Reform UK and its leader, saying: "Nigel Farage, he wants you to think he's a man of the people but when it comes to the economy he's Liz Truss with a Bitcoin account."

The Budget ahead

The speech was closely watched for clues about the Budget, which will be delivered later in the autumn. The war involving Iran has pushed up energy prices and inflation, and forecasters expect the outlook for the public finances to have worsened since the spring.

Mr Healey ended by telling the hall: "Good work. Good jobs. Britain working again."

What it means for Birmingham

Birmingham has long had one of the highest youth unemployment rates of the country's major cities, so plans for apprenticeships and help for young people into work will be followed closely by employers, colleges and training providers in the city.