The funniest part of the current drama is not Reeves’s handling of the numbers. It is the right wing’s reaction to it. For weeks the Conservatives and Reform have been shrieking that Labour is steering Britain toward economic ruin. Now that the data show the economy in better shape than Reeves had implied, they are suddenly incandescent that things are not as bad as they insisted. It is political ventriloquism of the cheapest variety: make the puppet say whatever line helps you that morning and hope no one notices your lips moving.
Yesterday’s post set out the real distinction: past Chancellors stretched the fog of the future; Reeves is accused of shading the clarity of the present. That is the substantive critique. But the response from the Tories and Reform is something else entirely. They cannot decide whether to condemn her for overselling catastrophe or underselling recovery, so they are now trying to do both at the same time. Labour, apparently, is ruining the economy and also hiding the fact that the economy is not ruined. This is not analysis; it is an exercise in shouting at clouds.
It would be easier to take their outrage seriously if either party had a credible economic record. The Conservatives left a trail of self inflicted craters: austerity that throttled growth, Brexit which shrank trade and investment, and the Truss experiment that sent gilt yields into orbit. Reform, meanwhile, offers the fiscal equivalent of a shopping list written after three pints: £80 billion of unfunded tax cuts, mass deportations that would cost more than they save, and energy policy that treats geology as an optional extra. When these two complain about Labour’s “honesty,” one is reminded of burglars giving lectures on home security.
And the markets, inconveniently, refused to join their hysteria. As soon as the Budget landed, gilt yields fell, sterling firmed, and investors gave a small, audible sigh of relief. Whatever one thinks of Reeves’s tone, the people who actually lend money to Britain appeared more reassured by her numbers than by the opposition’s theatrics. That alone renders the Tory and Reform complaints faintly absurd. If the economy were truly in flames, the bond market would not be cooling down.
What we are seeing, then, is not a principled objection to the handling of public accounts. It is a political class on the right that needs the country to feel permanently anxious to justify its own relevance. A stable, slowly improving economy under Labour spoils their script. So they howl that Labour is too gloomy, then howl that Labour is not gloomy enough, and hope no one spots the contradiction.
You wish they would make up their minds. They won’t. Confusion is the point. It lets them attack from every angle without ever committing to a coherent argument. In the end, the markets look steadier than the opposition, which is not a comparison anyone aspiring to govern should invite.
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