THE FORRESTERS ARMS in Brunswick Street is a typical Reading pub – warm, friendly, welcoming and also impacted by the rising cost of living.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves says Labour wants to help both the business and its customers cope with the rising cost of living.
She was visiting Reading on Thursday, July 21, just a day after it was announced that inflation is now 9.4%, and the RAC suggested that the price of a litre of unleaded should be close to £1.74 a litre rather than hovering around £1.90.
All these factors are impacting on everyday life, Ms Reeves said.
“I haven’t experience inflation like this in my lifetime, most people haven’t,” she said. “We haven’t had inflation like this since the 1970s, so it is really worrying.
“The essentials are going up … 9.4% is a headline, but look at energy prices, they went up 54% on average in April. Food prices are expected to go up 15% by the autumn.
“And anyone who fills their car with petrol or diesel knows what’s happening at the pump.”
She continued: “All these things that we have to do – fill up the car to get to work, put food on the table, and keep our houses warm and lot, those prices are just going through the roof. It’s putting huge pressure on family finances.”
This, she says, is causing problems.
“People are having to make impossible decisions about heating and eating. For people on ordinary incomes, they thought they were doing just fine but the little things that make life enjoyable – such as coming to pubs like The Forrester’s Arms, having a drink with your partner, going out for Sunday lunch or dinner, buying birthday presents and things like that – these are luxuries that a lot of people just can’t afford.
“These are people who thought they were doing just fine.”
And the rising costs are also having an impact on small businesses such as The Forresters, with rising bills on drink, food and energy bills.
“Small businesses don’t have the price of electricity and gas capped,” Ms Reeves said, adding they are also paying more in tax.
“In the two years Rishi Sunak was chancellor, he’s put up taxes 15 times. We’re the only major economy that has been increasing taxes on working people in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, and it doesn’t make any economic sense to do that.
“It’s taking money out of people’s purses and wallets when they are already struggling with rising prices. It’s one of the things that are holding our economy back.”
Labour, she said, was first to propose a windfall tax on energy companies, which was eventually enacted by the Conservative government. But what materialised was “a pale imitation – they could have raised more money from it”.
She said that had it been set up properly, it would be helping not those with multiple homes, but those who needed more support.
“Money should be targeted at those who are just about managing and just about getting by.”
A Labour government, Ms Reeves argues, would be encouraging investment in renewable energy.
“That’s the cheapest form of energy, and it means we’re less reliant on important oil and gas,” she said. “It also gets us on the road to net zero, which is incredibly important.
“We’ve seen that in the extreme weather we’ve seen in the last few days.
“While temperatures are hotting up, the Conservatives are cooling down in terms of their commitments to tackling climate change. We need to be doing more now.”
In any forthcoming general election, Reading West is a key target seat for Labour. With Alok Sharma’s majority reduced in 2019, the party is hoping residents will give the party the benefit of the doubt.
Given the leadership election going on, the nation will soon have its fourth prime minister since 2016. Ms Reeves is hoping that there will be a fifth, a Labour one, within two years.
“I’ve been an MP for just over 12 years, they’ve all been spent in opposition. People have turned away from Labour in the last few years, and we need to persuade them to vote Labour again because nothing that I want to achieve can be done from opposition,” she said.
She gives a list of some of her ambitions: improving living standards, helping businesses to create wealth and opportunities in all parts of the country, tackling the climate emergency, creating “good jobs in Britain”.
“None of those can be done from opposition, you’ve got to have the levers of power if you actually want to make change,” she said.
“I’m determined to turn around the fortunes of the Labour party and to get a Labour Government.
“I think the infighting among the Tories over the leadership debates, attacking their own records, shows they have run out of ideas.
“It’s time for real change, not just change in Conservative leadership, but a change of government.”
As part of this, she was knocking on doors in Reading, meeting residents and listening to them.
“It’s been nice to be here, I’m a campaigner and I love talking to people,” she said. “I try to persuade people, but also hear what people’s concerns are.
“You can come up with all these policies in offices in Westminster, but they will also be improved by actual, direct contact with people.
“Whether people are raising the cost of living, issues with taxation, all these are sorts of things that, as shadow chancellor, I want to hear about.
“For me, it’s an essential part of the job.”
Reading East MP was among those who joined Ms Reeves for the canvassing session.
“It was an absolute please having Rachel in Reading. We’re looking forward to her being the new chancellor of the exchequer hopefully in the not-too distant future.
“She’s worked really hard for the party and for towns like Reading.”
He added: “Residents were pleased to be able to talk to her and raise issues about the cost of living crisis and other problems such as the need to transition to a green economy as well.”
