Shadow Chancellor visits Swindon

Swindon innovations were praised by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves during a visit to the town earlier today.

She was joined by Swindon Borough Council Labour Group leader Cllr Jim Robbins for a tour of Advanced Biofuel Solutions Ltd at South Marston Business Park.

The firm turns household waste into low carbon biofuels that replace fossil fuels, as well as capturing the carbon in the waste as carbon dioxide, generating negative emissions needed to reach Net Zero.

The Shadow Chancellor had last visited the town in November, when she and Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer learned about the work of the Railway Village-based Foundry, which assists young entrepreneurs with business training and advice.

Having been shown around Advanced Biofuel Solutions Ltd by CEO Andy Cornell, Ms Reeves said: "It's really exciting to be back in back in Swindon.
"The work that happens here is innovation that we really need to see in all parts of the country. What's happening here is turning waste into different fuels - methane and carbon dioxide.
"Methane is a fuel that can go in to our grid, and carbon dioxide can be used in industry. It's very innovative and potentially can help us get faster to those ambitions of Net Zero."
Ms Reeves added: "Keir Starmer set out the missions of an incoming Labour Government just last week. One of those missions is to have the highest sustained growth in the G7 with good jobs and productivity in all parts of the country, and what we're seeing here in Swindon is absolutely about generating that growth and good jobs.
"But one of the other missions is for the UK to be a clean energy superpower, because know that there is a global race on for the jobs and industries of the future.
"Some country is going to be a global leader in carbon capture and storage, in green hydrogen. Why not Britain? 
"What we see here in Swindon today is that we've got the skills, we've got the entrepreneurialism, we've got the innovation, but what we need is a Government that gets behind these sorts of projects and sees them through, doing it at scale."
Asked how a Labour Government would reconcile the needs of business with those of the population at large, the Shadow Chancellor said: "We need a Government whose ambitions match the ambitions that people have for their families, their communities and for Britain.
"We've set out the missions of an incoming Labour Government, and the first of those five is to have the highest sustained growth in the G7, because growth has been the missing ingredient for the last 13 years, with economic growth just sort of skirting along the floor, really, and as a result, living standards these last 13 years have been falling.
"Real wages are still lower than they were when the Tories came to power in 2010, and of course the schools, the hospitals, the public services that we all rely on are in a worse state than when the Government came in in 2010.
"Frankly, there's nothing in Britain that works better than when the Conservatives came to office.
"You need economic growth to be able to invest in public services and you need economic growth to be able to improve living standards, so we are determined to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business - businesses like we see here in Swindon.
"But we want good jobs and productivity in all parts of the country, because how growth is generated and who benefits from growth really matters to Labour.
"Ordinary people need to see more money in their pockets and also thriving local economies with high streets and town centres that they're proud of again. 
"So we have put forward reforms of business rates, the review we've done of how to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business and also our Green Prosperity Plan to help businesses like ADSL in Swindon to grow, to scale up, and to be part of the clean energy superpower that we know that Britain can be."