‘The economic situation is hardly rosy but much of the criticism against the Chancellor is overblown,’ writes The Mirror’s Jason Beattie on pressure facing Rachel Reeves
If you want to be popular don’t take a job in the Treasury. Rachel Reeves has found this out the hard way.
The Chancellor has angered pensioners by removing winter fuel payments, enraged Waspi women by refusing to pay compensation for the Tory pensions blunder and riled Britain’s farmers.
Taxes have gone up but growth remains sluggish. To add to her woes, the markets have smelt blood which has pushed up the cost of government borrowing.
The more the government has to pay to furnish it debts the less money there is for public services. The economic situation is hardly rosy but much of the criticism against the Chancellor is overblown.
Labour’s opponents are so desperate to paint the government in a bad light they are seizing on the slightest setback to claim the country is approaching financial armageddon.
It is about as convincing as saying a nosebleed is akin to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The main reason the cost of borrowing has risen is because investors fear Donald Trump will spark a trade war by imposing tariffs on imports to the US.
Ms Reeves is hoping these jitters will disappear once there is clarity about the president-elect’s plans. In the meantime the best response to market turmoil – and the snarking from the Tories – is to remain calm.
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And by extension, the worst response would be to change chancellors which is why Ms Reeves’ job, not that it was ever in doubt, is safe. But she still faces some hard choices when she delivers her financial statement in March.
If there is no economic pick up then Labour could find itself imposing the austerity it promised to end. The Chancellor has weathered a squall. She knows she’ll have to brave far worse storms than this.