The UK economy has slowed very significantly since Labour took office.

One reason is that Reeves and others spent their first four months in office moaning loudly that the economy was in a terrible state, blaming the Tories for a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finance discovered only when Labour took office.

This was a ruse to try to justify ideologically-driven tax rises Labour was too dishonest to mention before polling day.

Mindless criticism in opposition is one thing ­– but when a new Chancellor routinely disses the UK’s economic prospects, in this case as part of a clever-clever political parlour game, it’s no surprise employers and investors become more reluctant to employ and invest.

Then we had Reeves’s budget in late October which, despite the precarious public finances Labour had inherited from the Tories, sought to raise government spending by a massive £70 billion a year over this Parliament, funded by a £40 billion per annum tax raid and £30 billion a year in extra borrowing.

Employers, in turn, face a £25-billion-a-year rise in national insurance costs and a thumping 16pc minimum wage increase. Such measures are an enormous burden – not least on small- and medium-sized enterprises, the UK’s growth-boosting engine room.

At the same time, Labour’s huge bung, within weeks of taking office, to the public sector workers controlled by its union paymasters, has helped drive wage inflation up to 5.2pc on the latest data – one reason inflation surged to 2.6pc in November, above the 2pc target.

🧵 3/5