RACHEL REEVES CHANCELLOR TREASURY SECRETARY LEEDS WEST CABINET MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT MPs SIR KEIR STARMER LABOUR'S MINISTERS AND SECRETARIES OF STATE 2024 NEW GOVERMENT FOR KING CHARLES

Rachel Reeves, the MP for Leeds West since 2010, has become the first female Chancellor. She was promoted to shadow chancellor in May 2021, having first been appointed shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when Sir Keir took over as leader.

She did not serve in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, but did hold senior roles in Ed Miliband’s top team when he was Labour leader, including that of shadow work and pensions secretary.

Ms Reeves said she hoped her appointment as the first female Chancellor would inspire future generations of women, saying: “It is the honour of my life to have been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.

“I know what responsibility it brings, and I am ready to deliver the change our economy needs to make working people in all parts of the country better off. It comes with a historic responsibility as the first woman to be appointed Chancellor. To every young girl and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limits on your ambitions.”

Rachel Reeves has warned the UK economy is in its worst state since the Second World War and blamed previous governments for "decisions deferred and decisions ducked."

In her first major speech as Chancellor, Ms Reeves said she had discovered how bad things are in her first 72 hours in the job as she grapples with the legacy of "14 years of chaos and economic irresponsibility". Treasury analysis she saw over the weekend showed the UK's economy would have been £140billion bigger - with £58billion more for public services - if it had grown at the average rate of OECD economies during the last 14 years, she said.

Ms Reeves faces an unenviable task of trying to get the economy firing again, while trying to repair battered public services without pouring in loads of cash. Here are the key takeaways on from her first major speech as Chancellor on how she plans to do it.

BUDGET

The Chancellor suggested she would set a date for the next Budget within the next few weeks, before Parliament breaks up for the summer recess. MPs are expected to sit until the end of July so the new Government can get going on its legislative plans.

Ms Reeves said she would "do things properly when it comes to our budget" and ask the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to produce detailed forecasts for it. Liz Truss famously refused the OBR's forecasts for her tax-slashing mini-Budget in 2022, which sent the economy into meltdown and triggered the end of her short-lived stint in No10.

NEW HOMES

Ms Reeves confirmed Labour's commitment to build 1.5million new homes by the next election with an overhaul of planning rules that are stopping Britain building. New developments will be allowed on some parts of the green belt after review of the boundaries by local authorities.

The Government will prioritise brownfield and so-called grey belt land for housebuilding, which would include affordable housing and housing for social rent. Mandatory housebuilding targets will be restored and 300 additional planning officers will be hired to speed up decisions.

Ms Reeves said: "This is not a green light for any type of housing. We will take an interventionist approach to make sure we have the right housing mix that our country needs and our people need.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

Decisions for major infrastructure projects will be made nationally rather than locally to stop important schemes getting tied up in red tape. The Chancellor said a new taskforce would fire up progress on stalled housing sites, including some 14,000 homes in Liverpool central docks, Worcester Parkway, Northstowe and Langley Sutton Coldfield.

ONSHORE WIND BAN DITCHED

The new Government has immediately ripped up the effective ban on onshore wind. Under the Tories, wind farms were treated differently to other developments, with schemes stopped if there were any local objections.

Onshore wind is one of the cheapest forms of green energy. Schemes can be built quickly, helping to slash emissions and reduce dependence on expensive gas.

Ms Reeves unveiled the reforms today as part of Labour's commitment to double onshore wind and transform the grid to clean energy by 2030.

IS GROWTH POSSIBLE JULY 2024?

Ms Reeves is pinning her hopes on boosting economic growth, which has been flat lining in recent years. She said it was about more than "lines on a graph", adding: "This is about whether working people feel better off, whether our high streets and town centres are revived, whether there are good jobs paying decent wages in more parts of the country.

"Success for me will be whether working class kids from ordinary backgrounds have more opportunities than they do today, and I think those opportunities have gone backwards in the last few years."

The Chancellor said businesses have doubted whether to invest in Britain in recent years but she wanted firms to see that the Government is "pro business and pro growth" - and stable after years of Tory chaos.

Asked about ex-PM Liz Truss's complaints that she was held back by an "anti-growth coalition", Ms Reeves said: "The anti-growth coalition are the Conservative Party and the British people kicked them out of office last week."

We would caution Ms Reeves. Suggesting that all Growth, should be Blue and Green. Hence, sustainable in line with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). Or, face increased global warming. Geography and science may not be her strong suits, but climate change will surely scupper all efforts at economic sustainability, if not handled sympathetically to planet earth.

Where the Conservatives got it all wrong, Labour has a mammoth task ahead, turning the tide, and then building on the strengths of the Nation.

Okay, so the when the revelry evaporates, it comes down to brass tacks. How is the Starmer Cabinet going to turn the UK around?

Might we suggest a return to basics. Sir Kier has already looked at taking back control of, or recreating a new National Grid, to stem the blood flow of dividends to overseas investors.

This could be a new renewable energy highway, based on renewables, electricity and hydrogen mix. Investing in a clean future that is sustainable. The UK might easily become a net exporter of energy. Even after heating homes, powering factories and giving the nations zero emission mobility. It's not rocket science.

Then, there is the matter of affordable housing where the Conservatives have been all about executive housing that only landlords can afford. Leading to councils going bankrupt as they try to cope with mounting bills for temporary accommodations in guest houses and hotels.

We need to grow more trees for wood. As a carbon lock and to build sustainable housing. We also need to grow more vegetables. With incentives as per those in World War Two, when allotments were the order of the day.

Unfortunately, we no longer have an automotive industry. Where once we exported such brands as the Austin Mini, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Rolls Royce. Those are now in foreign ownership or the trademarks sold off. Now, we face stiff competition from Chinese auto makers, as they export cheap electrics.

What we do have in abundance is creative talent in film, TV series, and music exports. Anyone remember The Beatles, Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) and Rod Stewart. At one point in time Abba was one of Sweden's biggest exports. We need to nurture and support our film studios. James Bond is a great British movie franchise, presently in the doldrums. Even Hollywood movie scripts are now funded by Chinese investors.

There is nothing to prevent a resurgence of British engineering and manufacturing. Perhaps a new electric mini, but with a brand name to reflect low cost, zero carbon motoring. With solar assistance as a first, as standard. Obviously, such vehicles should be capable of running on green methanol or lithium batteries as a stop gap. Hence, a means of swapping from one technology to the other should be built into new designs. Especially in HGV trucks and vans that may then deliver goods taking advantage of the new (proposed) Hydrogen Grid with Smart service stations, providing electricity and renewable energy in the form of hydrogen gas and methanol. The new liquid gold.

The opportunities are endless, provided there is support for SMEs to grow their ideas into exports. We are at war with China as to cheap imports. We need to be able to balance the books with UK Intellectual Property, or get back to making products in the UK to stem imports from aggressive overseas expansion. Stop the brain drain.

You can only raid the population's piggy-bank so much before they rebel again. There must be incentives for entrepreneurs to give it a go, and not feel cheated.

And then there are wasteful councils leaching yet more taxes from hard working families, and not providing services like infrastructure or even repair of potholes, as they stash the cash for golden pensions, instead of providing public services at good value. Here we might cut the red ink by pulling planning back to central government, to prevent all the back-handers, discrimination and other corruption. Such as procurement fraud.

Thousands of council jobs might go using AI administration to shore un the Pension Black Hole. There are councillors pulling down expenses when almost all planning decisions are delegated to officers. In many cases councillors are bullied and brainwashed into silence. When they should be asking questions.

And that goes for civil service jobs and duplication of effort. The UK might operate more efficiently without the armies of civil servants, non productive workers in plum jobs who produce nothing and simply gum up the works with more red tape, obfuscation and negativity - seeking to justify (build) their part.

Criminal charges should be brought against Southern Water, Northumbrian Water, South West Water, United Utilities, Thames Water, Wessex Water Anglian Water, Severn Trent and Yorkshire Water for persistent discharge of sewage into our rivers and seas. The penalty for long term non-compliance could be loss of their franchise, as part of new statute.

S olar panels should be compulsory on all new homes and reverse the de-facto ban on onshore wind.

Labour need to call an emergency dentistry summit, to force private dentists to take some of the NHS loads, with financial penalties attaching. Consider monitoring NHS treatments for every practice. Where at the moment they say no NHS clients, and lay off NHS clients to outside practices, forcing payments to private dentists - on no treatment: Blackmail.

End no fault evictions and strengthen renters rights, alongside the requirement to build affordable and sustainable homes, also including new powers to local authorities to control rents - where Rent Tribunals appear not to understand the concept of affordability and/or human rights. And give new powers to the State to ensure that Councils actually force developers to build affordable homes (low cost installations of energy and water autonomous flatpacks, etc.), before they are allowed to build executive housing for rent and property speculators. Suggest a target percentage that needs to be fulfilled, or block other development.

FOSSIL FOOLS - Geriatric politicians with 'climate-senile' policies will find in difficult to break away from their corrupt ways, as part time politicians with two jobs. Their main job being to find paid consultancy work, rather than craft policies and create statute that works to protect our voters from lung cancer, energy shortages and a lack of affordable (sustainable) housing.

The 'zerophobics' are the undertakers of the political world, sending millions of ordinary people to an early grave, while loading us with NHS, hospital and staff costs that would not be needed if we had clean air in our cities.

Basically, the longer you are in politics, the more likely you are to be exposed to bribes, from climate deniers, mostly fossil fuel and energy companies, looking to keep on pumping toxic fumes into the atmosphere, so they can keep making money. The political undertakers are working with them to keep hospitals stocked with cancer victims, adding to the £Trillions we owe as part of the national debt. Under Boris and Rishi Sunack, pensioner's saving have halved in real terms. They are blood sucking vampires, draining what little you had saved for your retirement.