The shadow chancellor has dropped a flagship announcement on business from her Labour conference speech after some of Britain’s biggest companies pulled out because of interventions by senior Conservatives.
Rachel Reeves was planning to use her conference speech to announce the creation of a British infrastructure council, as part of a bid to make Labour the party of business.
According to a draft press release seen by The Times, the council was expected to be formed of five leading companies: Aviva, Lloyds, Fidelity, Phoenix and Blackstone.
“If Keir [Starmer] and I can bring business back to Labour, I know we can bring growth back to Britain,” Reeves was planning to say.
The businesses involved pulled out after senior Tories became aware of the plans
