Healey promises ‘a new age of industrialisation’ in first conference speech as Chancellor
The Chancellor told Labour’s Liverpool conference that fiscal discipline would underwrite every promise the Government makes, and that the Budget he delivers a month from now would give families and businesses breathing space.
John Healey used his first Labour conference speech as Chancellor to promise “a new age of industrialisation”, telling delegates in Liverpool that fiscal discipline would sit “through the core” of the Budget he will deliver a month from now.
Opening with a tribute to his predecessor, Healey said Rachel Reeves had brought “financial discipline” to the country and would “always be recognised as this country’s first-ever female Chancellor”. He also paid tribute to Keir Starmer, who he said had taken the party “from one of our worst-ever defeats to one of our biggest-ever victories”.
The central argument of the speech was that hope for the economy must be earned. “There’s nothing progressive about losing control,” Healey said. “Because it’s working people who pay for it.” He told the hall that he and the Prime Minister were “in lockstep” on meeting the fiscal rules, balancing the books with a buffer against uncertainty and bringing down borrowing to control inflation.
There’s nothing progressive about losing control. Because it’s working people who pay for it.John Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Labour Party conference, 28 September 2026
Healey set out what he called a Plan for Britain, built, he said, “on the rock of fiscal discipline”, on a growing economy with good work and jobs in more places, and on the new age of industrialisation. He pointed to the Government’s record in its first two years: railways coming back into public hands, new rights for renters and at work, and British Steel saved.
He also listed the cost-of-living measures taken in what he called Andy Burnham’s first week as Prime Minister: VAT cut from electricity bills, bus fares capped at £2, and business rates reduced on pubs, clubs and music venues, “to give people just a bit of breathing space”.
On young people, the Chancellor said the number not in employment, education or training had risen to nearly one million before the election, and said benefits should be a bridge to work, not a trap: “for everyone else, benefits should be a bridge to work, to wider participation, to a better life”.
The speech took direct aim at the opposition. Healey attacked the Conservatives’ economic record under Liz Truss’s mini-Budget and turned on Reform UK, saying of Nigel Farage: “when it comes to the economy, he’s Liz Truss with a Bitcoin account.”
There were personal notes too. Healey recalled his first Labour conference, in Blackpool in 1986, forty years ago, and told the story of lending Gordon Brown his red tie before the then-Chancellor’s 1999 conference speech in Bournemouth. “I did get it back, he signed it and I’ve never worn it since,” he said. “Until today.”
He closed by returning to the miners’ lamp he keeps at home in Rotherham, from Cortonwood Colliery, as a symbol of solidarity and hope: “no matter the darkness, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”
None to date. The Journal corrects errors promptly and transparently. Read our corrections policy.
