SHADOW chancellor Rachel Reeves has denied her three-point plan to “buy, make and sell” more in Britain amounts to slapping the Union flag on public procurement.
Labour unveiled its new policy yesterday, saying it would use social and environmental clauses in public contracts to raise standards.
It said its approach would mirror that of other countries including France and the United States.
Labour would ask every public body to give more contracts to British firms, and require public bodies to report on how much they are buying from businesses in this country, Reeves said.
She cited how shortages of personal protective equipment during the pandemic had highlighted concerns about insecure supply chains, as well as huge taxpayer contracts going overseas instead of to British companies.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson provokes Twitter storm with giant English flag photoshoot
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Reeves said the policy was about taking into account the social as well as the economic value of bids.
Marr said some people in the Labour Party would be likely to feel “quite queasy” about a policy “that it is slapping a Union Jack on public procurement”.
Reeves replied: “I don’t think it does do that.”
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