Rachel Reeves has made a complete hash of the economy, and much like everyone else in this absurd Government she is refusing to take any responsibility whatsoever. At the weekend, we learnt that Keir Starmer’s government is planning on linking its inevitable tax rises at the November Budget to Brexit.
This is apparently because the OBR will downgrade its forecast of Britain’s productivity, which will cost between £10 and £20 billion in the immediate term. After spending three years trying to reverse Brexit with all his power, Keir Starmer and the Labour establishment went into the last election promising, hand on heart, that they would not reverse Brexit. Now they’ve already begun that process, they’re becoming increasingly willing to say what they’ve always believed – that the British public were idiots for defying their Project Fear warnings in 2016 and must now be told so.
The half-rate spin doctors in No. 10 then came up with another wheeze: as well as deflecting blame this November onto Brexit, why then not hit two birds with one stone and pin that blame onto Nigel Farage.
Yes, a man who, while he may have been a leading proponent of Brexit, has had approximately zero days in power and absolutely no say over the Government.
Let’s be very clear: Nigel Farage was not responsible for the Brexit we ended up with, with the exception of standing aside in 2019 to prevent a ragtag anti-democratic coalition from depriving Boris Johnson of a majority.
He had nothing to do with choices around our specific trading relationship, our post-Brexit tax regime, our immigration levels or investment levels to boost productivity.
Labour’s main piece of evidence in this mass deceit of the British public revolves around claims of productivity levels since 2019.
The key problem here is that is factually untrue, and even key Remainers like Jeremy Hunt now admit this.
Earlier this year he backed a paper from the highly respected Policy Exchange think tank, in which he said “many claims” about the economy from anti-Brexit doomsters “were overly exaggerated”.
The OBR’s claims about productivity since 2016 are equally dubious, and Rachel Reeves’ own Treasury figures provide contrary evidence to the exact anti-Brexit yarn she is now desperately trying to spin.
Just this morning, official UK labour market statistics revealed that HMRC’s own payroll data shows productivity has been growing faster – not slower – than the official OBR forecasts since late 2023.
Debating this on the Jeremy Vine show this morning, I pointed out that all of this excuse-making would be a lot more credible had she ever mentioned it before.
“She came into power in 2024, saying that everything was the Tories’ fault. She delivered a terrible budget that raised all of our taxes and she said it was ‘once in a parliament’ and she’d never have to do it again.
“She said she’d fixed all the problems and filled the black hole. That was a lie, and she’s failed.
“She’s pathetically scrambling around, flailing, trying to find any excuse to dodge responsibility.
“Rachel ‘not me guv’ Reeves, nothing’s her fault.”
Voters are smart, and intelligent – much more so than the left can ever fathom. They smell when a rat’s a rat, and this November will be no different.