00:00There is a black hole in our economy.
00:02Chancellor Rachel Reeves has not pulled any punches in her speech at the Labour Party conference this week.
00:07People hoping for a step away from the doom and gloom that's been tangible in Labour's statements on the economy up to now
00:12will be slightly disappointed, but perhaps not surprised.
00:15Right from the point that they stepped into government, Labour and Reeves have been insistent that they will be the party of economic responsibility.
00:21With that in mind, let's quickly analyse the speech.
00:23Firstly, the Chancellor didn't mince her words on the Conservative government that came before her,
00:27claiming that there was a £22 billion black hole, which has been a big contributor to cuts such as the removal of winter fuel payments.
00:35There's also been the announcement that a Covid corruption minister will be appointed to try and assess which contracts handed out during Covid were not met.
00:42The key line was that there was no return to austerity.
00:45So there's clearly some optimism that the temporary tightening of belts will eventually create some wiggle room.
00:50But finally, there was a positive moment with the announcement that free breakfast clubs will be launched across a number of schools up and down the country
00:56before it's rolled out nationally a little bit down the line.
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