Rachel Reeves Profile picture
Sep 10, 2020 5 tweets 3 min read Read on X
#OTD in 1909 Alice Bacon, the first woman MP to represent a Leeds constituency, was born in Normanton. She was a miner’s daughter rooted in West Yorkshire. When she joined the Labour Party aged 16, she said it was “as natural as breathing”. (1/5) Image
First elected in the 1945 Labour landslide, Alice Bacon was one of 21 Labour women elected as MPs. In total 24 women MPs were elected in that year. (2/5) Image
When Labour came to govt under Harold Wilson in 1964, Bacon became a Home Office Minister. She worked to get many liberalising reforms on the statute books, including legalising abortion, decriminalising homosexuality, and abolishing capital punishment. (3/5) Image
In 1967, Bacon moved to Tony Crosland's Dept of Education. Here, she pushed for more comprehensive schools – her political passion. Alice also worked closely with her Leeds colleagues Hugh Gaitskell, Denis Healey & Charlie Pannell, who called themselves “Leeds United”. (4/5) Image
As only the second woman MP to represent a Leeds constituency, I am in awe of what Alice Bacon achieved. She was an inspiring & groundbreaking woman of Westminster and of Leeds politics. In 2019, I unveiled a blue plaque for her at @leedscornex where she held her surgeries. (5/5) Image

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More from @RachelReevesMP

Aug 10, 2023
A Tory bond black hole is leaving Britain paying £251 billion.

That’s 76 times the amount that the Tories lost during Black Wednesday in 1992.

Here’s how poor Conservative economic choices made this happen. 🧵
During the financial crisis, a Treasury fund was set up to profit from the Bank of England’s quantitative easing programme.

It was meant to help the UK recover from the global financial crisis, with the Bank buying up government bonds and assets.

It was working well.
But after 13 years of low growth, the Tories crashing our economy, and inflation soaring - government borrowing costs have spiked.

This has decimated the value of that fund.

In the last three years, the Tories recklessness has turned a £73.6bn asset into a £177.6bn liability.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 29, 2022
The Prime Minister’s radio interviews this morning have made the disastrous situation our economy faces even worse.

Her failure to answer questions about what will happen with people’s pensions and mortgages will leave families across the country facing huge worry. 1/4
It is disgraceful that the family finances of people across the country are being put on the line simply so the Government can give huge unfunded tax cuts to those earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. 2/4
This is a serious situation made in Downing Street and is the direct result of the Conservative Government's reckless actions. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Jan 23, 2022
THREAD 👇

Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been dished out to criminals.
 
Money that could help people and businesses in need – or our stretched NHS.
 
All because the Chancellor's lack of checks for self-certifying business support. 1/7
At least £6.5bn of business support money has gone to fraudsters.
 
In December, I asked why quick electronic checks with HMRC weren’t run before pay outs were made. 2/7

Rishi Sunak failed to give decent answers, so @jreynoldsmp and @patmcfaddenmp wrote to the Chancellor with 10 further questions.

They’ve still not been answered. 3/7

Read 7 tweets
Oct 1, 2021
The cost of living crisis is escalating, and we have a Conservative government refusing to look at how its own choices have led to this.

Instead of letting a difficult winter unfold, they should be using our recovery to make our economy stronger.
Thread.
ft.com/content/08276c…
Today, @Ed_Miliband warned the Conservatives that we're reaching a crunch point with energy prices, and that time is running out.

Conservative complacency is leaving families and businesses exposed to rising energy prices.

We need urgent action on this.
news.sky.com/story/energy-c…
The Conservatives know their planned tax rises on working people and businesses are not good for our economy.

But they're pressing forward anyway.

Read 8 tweets
Sep 20, 2021
NEW: Labour will scrap the private equity carried interest loophole – a loophole that leaves fund managers with a tax break of up to £170,000 a year.

Here’s why [THREAD] 
ft.com/content/16c17b…
How does this deeply unfair loophole work at the moment? 

Firstly, the same rules have applied since 1987, despite huge economic changes. 

Since then, the income fund managers receive in carried interest has been taxed at the rate of Capital Gains Tax, rather than Income Tax.
That means an additional rate taxpayer (someone earning over £150,000) is paying 28% on carried interest - rather than 45% if it was treated as regular income.
Read 8 tweets
Aug 29, 2021
The supply chain crisis is the result of the Tories' Brexit deal and their failure to plan - together with the neglect of vital jobs and ministers' refusal to listen to those working in industry. 1/8
theguardian.com/politics/2021/…
HGV drivers are some of the many overlooked and undervalued workers who are vital to keep our economy moving. @RHANews estimate it could take up to 18 months to tackle the shortfall of HGV drivers. 2/8 rha.uk.net/News/News-Blog…
The shortages we’re seeing in our supermarkets now are only set to escalate in the run up to Christmas. The Tories have no plan to address the issues that are causing these problems - in either the short or the longer-term. 3/8
Read 8 tweets

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