Prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt went straight to their nearest builders’ merchant store on Wednesday afternoon, straight after the budget statement, to mix with some real people.
Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves went one better, donning full PPE and hard hats on a City of London building site to demonstrate their working class credentials.
Sunak and Hunt visited Selco’s Old Kent Road branch on Wednesday afternoon to be photographed by the press talking to working people.
Selco chief executive Howard Luft said: “It was a privilege to show the prime minister and the chancellor around one of our most centrally-located London branches and to introduce them to some of our colleagues.
“It created a real buzz of excitement amongst colleagues and customers and we were able to offer an insight into the builders’ merchant industry in general and Selco in particular.”
Checkout sales assistant Natasha Akhtar added: “It was an incredible experience to sit and have a cup of tea with the prime minister and the chancellor. It was far from your normal working day and something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
For Starmer and Reeves it was a trip to an office refurbishment project in the City of London on Thursday morning, Orion Capital Managers’ Panorama St Pauls makeover.
According to Mace, the main contractor on the site, the visit was organised “to highlight the vital importance of the construction sector to Labour’s plans for the future of the UK economy and to provide a platform for some of the industry’s young talent to share their views with Keir and Rachel”.
Hannah Vickers, Mace’s chief of staff, said: “We were really pleased to welcome Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to join us this morning. What our industry is asking for are solid proposals to reform the planning system, give confidence in the infrastructure and construction pipeline, and in turn improve productivity across all nations and regions – which is why we welcome Labour’s plan to get Britain building again.”
Kelsey Tanner, a construction manager apprentice at Mace, said: “Working as an apprentice in construction isn’t just about getting onto site – it’s about gaining access to a huge range of opportunity across a really diverse and exciting industry. It was brilliant to be able to talk to Sir Keir and Rachel about their plans to make it easier for people across the country to access the same training and development I’ve been able to have at Mace.”
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