A Labour government will crack down on benefits cheats as well as tax dodgers, Rachel Reeves said today, as she revealed she now spoke to Tony Blair “regularly” as the party prepares for the election.
The shadow Chancellor also said that Labour would eventually spend 2.5 per cent of national income on defence, and refused twice to rule out axing the Rwanda illegal migrant scheme if it were a success.
Reeves also said the location of new 'new towns' will only be set out after a consultation after a general election win, and admitted she was seeking advice from former PM Tony Blair "regularly".
Earlier this month Reeves set out how Labour will crack down on tax avoidance and evasion to fund NHS spending.
Rachel Reeves said she speaks to Tony Blair “regularly” as the party prepares for the electionPA/GettyEarlier this month Reeves set out how Labour will crack down on tax avoidance and evasion to fund NHS spending.
In a wide-ranging interview with GB News' Political Editor Christopher Hope in Darlington on Friday, Reeves expanded this commitment to include benefits cheats after the head of the National Audit Office warned this year that £5.5billion was lost in fraud and error from the Universal Credit system.
Reeves said: "There is something particularly abhorrent about taking money from the taxpayer because what you are doing then is depriving our public services of the money they need. So we will crack down on that fraud wherever it exists."
Reeves also lifted the lid on the influence of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair saying that the pair "speak regularly".
She said: "I have got huge respect for Tony Blair and I do speak to him regularly. This week there was a headline that says that an incoming Labour government will be even more pro-business than Tony Blair's was."
On the UK's security, Reeves refused to say how or when a Labour government would get to 2.5pc of spending on defence until after post-election spending review.
Labour's lack of uncertainty has opened a political dividing line with the Tories after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak committee the Tories to hitting that target by 2030.
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Earlier this month Reeves set out how Labour will crack down on tax avoidance and evasion to fund NHS spending
PA
She said: "We are committed to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence. The problem with the Government's figures is they have not set out how they will achieve it...
"We want to get to 2.5 per cent, we want to do that as quickly as possible, but we will have to do a review of defence spending and understand the state of the public finances.
"When Labour left office in 2010 defence spending was at 2.5 per cent of GDP, since then this government has made cuts that our Army is the smallest since Napoleonic times.
"It is them that have reduced spending on defence. We are committed to getting back to 2.5pc of GDP."
On illegal migration, Reeves twice refused to say explicitly that a Labour government would axe the costly scheme if it proved to be a success in deterring small boats' crossings.
But she said: "We want to stop the boats. That is absolutely essential to getting control again of our border after the Conservatives have lost control.
"I am not willing to spend money on expensive gimmicks - this has cost tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.
Rachel Reeves said she has "huge respect for Tony Blair"
Getty
"That money should be put towards cracking down on the criminal gangs and deporting people who have got no right to be in this country."
On planning policy Reeves said a Labour government would set out where it wants to construct new towns to help deal with the shortage of homes after a post-general election consultation.
She said: "We have got some fantastic new towns in Britain from Milton Keynes to Welwyn Garden city, and those are new towns pioneered by past Labour governments...
"We will consult in government about where the new towns of the future so that families and young people have a chance to get on the housing ladder again.
"The Conservatives were once the the party of home ownership. Only the Labour party is the party of home ownership in Britain."
Turning to criticism on today's Chopper's Political Podcast from Labour MP Rosie Duffield that she has been cold-shouldered by Sir Keir Starmer because of her campaigning on trans issues, Reeves said: "Rosie Duffield is an important member of the Parliamentary Labour party.
"I have known her a long time. All of us over the next seven days are going to be hitting the streets and the doorsteps as part of these local elections but after that we will be back in Parliament, and I will be certainly seeing Rosie then."