Rachel Reeves offers a bold and commendable blueprint for rebuilding Britain

Britain’s first female chancellor of the Exchequer made an assured debut in her first speech in her new role. We congratulate Rachel Reeves on her appointment and welcome the tone and the content of her words.

She repeated the election campaign rhetoric about economic growth being the “mission” of the new government. This ought to be a statement of the obvious, but it will help to push ministers, as they make thousands of decisions over the next few years, in the right direction.

Most significantly, it should push the government towards adjusting the terms of Britain’s trade with the European Union. Nick Thomas-Symonds was appointed on Monday as the minister responsible for the rolling negotiation with our neighbour and most important trading partner. He is a pragmatist and has a good understanding of history, which are useful qualifications in that role.

More immediately, Ms Reeves set out two of the big policy changes she intends to make as chancellor – to reform planning law to make it easier to build things, especially homes, and to lift the effective ban on new onshore wind turbines. Both of these are welcome and necessary.

The first is a big and complex undertaking. Central government can change planning law to try to speed up the delivery of infrastructure projects, and it can put pressure on local councils to allow the building of more homes. Ms Reeves is still at the words rather than actions stage on that, but she used the right words and they expressed the right sense of purpose. “The question is not whether we want growth,” she said, “but how strong is our resolve.” She insisted that she is willing to “risk short-term political pain to fix Britain’s foundations”.

She had better mean it. We are not naive about the difficulty of building homes in the places where people want to live, but a government that tilts the presumption in favour of growth, and therefore in favour of building, could make a noticeable difference in the four or five years of a parliament.

Better than that, though, the words of her speech were backed up by formal changes in policy. Angela Rayner, as levelling-up secretary, will review decisions to refuse planning permission for two data centres in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, Ms Reeves said.

Similarly, on onshore wind power, her words were backed up by a statement issued jointly by the Treasury, the levelling-up department and the energy department. These are words that will affect actions: a welcome change after years of official nimbyism.

In answer to questions, Ms Reeves was reluctant to call herself a yimby – “yes in my backyard” – but she has done something more important, namely to start to tilt the machinery of government in a different and better direction.

She said something else spikily important, too. “I know that many of you aren’t used to hearing this after recent years,” she said, “but I believe that the promises that a party is elected on should be delivered on in government, and we will do so.”

This is a tough message on several levels. She aimed it explicitly at those “who will argue that the time for caution has passed”, and who urge her to spend, tax and borrow now that the votes have been counted. That she will not do, and rightly so.

But it is a tough message, also, for those who might nod along to the idea of building more houses but object to it when diggers start digging. That is when the Labour government will need to hold its nerve.

The chancellor’s speech was a clear statement that she intends to see the manifesto commitment to build more houses through. She will have The Independent’s support in that endeavour.