Chancellor John Healey plans to deliver his first major speech in the role on September 7, focusing on boosting Britain's economic growth, according to four people with knowledge of the date who requested anonymity. The government is considering staging the address at a manufacturing plant outside London. The date was first reported by Politics at Sam and Anne's, a morning briefing podcast run jointly by POLITICO and Sky News.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham appointed Healey to the role in July and announced in mid-August that he was working on a speech about the government's economic agenda. Two of the four people said the speech would focus heavily on growth, weeks after Burnham transferred responsibility for local economic growth strategy from the Treasury to his office in Manchester.
One of the four said the speech would likely emphasize broader vision and initiatives ahead of the October 28 budget rather than individual spending policies, including Burnham's pledges to hand more economic powers to regional leaders. Another said it represented "the government's version of their theory of growth."
A government official not among the four cited sources said the speech involved contributions from multiple government departments and had "crossed a lot of people's radar." A Treasury official said growth would be a dual mission for both the prime minister's and chancellor's offices, with every department focused on achieving Burnham's pledge of "good growth in every postcode."
Britain's GDP grew 0.4 percent in the three months to June, while rising bond yields have increased the cost of servicing government debt to levels not seen for decades. One banking lobbyist briefed on the event said Healey's speech could be shaped by recent market movements and might use a pro-growth but policy-light approach to calm bond traders.
Healey is under pressure to commit to raising Britain's military spending to 3 percent of GDP by 2030, a target he demanded when he resigned as defense minister earlier this year. He has said he will not name a date for meeting that target until next year.
