Rachel Reeves the new chancellor grimly announced on the 29th July that not only had she inherited the worst economic circumstances of any post war incoming government but that she’d ‘discovered’ a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

Paul Johnson of the IFS (Institute for Fiscal studies) made it clear; “the black hole was obvious to anyone who dared to look”.

Her ’discovery’ is total poppycock and she knows it.

Not least because the first growth figures released by the incoming Labour Government show the UK economy is in fact growing faster than any other major European economy. Which must make Reeves the first UK Chancellor to not want nor welcome good economic news.

Just to put this into some context when Liz Truss ‘crashed the economy’, it contracted by 0.5 per cent in 2008 two years before the coalition took over, the UK economy contracted by nearly six per cent falling in five successive quarters, the Government had the largest deficit in peacetime and unemployment was at eight per cent..

You’re kidding no one Rachael, it is why, despite the £22 billion ‘black hole’ she chose to set aside an extra £9 billion to fund public sector pay rises.

Further monies were promised to the Great British Energy Company, spoiler alert; it won’t produce any actual energy and further billions were splurged to support overseas projects to reduce the effects of climate change.

Gordon Brown used to boast he had ended boom and bust, until of course the economy blew up in his face.

He briefly, to much ridicule, tried the line that, he’d ended ‘Tory boom and bust’. Having promised over 14 years to end Tory austerity, I wonder how Labour will spin cutting the winter fuel allowance? Austerity for a purpose? Labour austerity? Labour Austerity (but different).

Labour never really did have a plan to grow the British economy, most of the measures they’ve taken so far, look set to strangle it in red tape and higher taxes. It is a fact that every single Labour government elected to office has left with more people out of work than when they took over. Rachael Reeves looks set fair to continue that miserable record.