Whether it was those brisk walks in the bracing air of the Swiss Alps or some can-do Donald Trump-style optimism wafting in from across the Atlantic, Rachel Reeves is now striking a more determined and upbeat tone when she talks about the UK economy. Doing the rounds of the Sunday television talk shows, the chancellor was at least partially back to promoting the growth agenda that had spearheaded her message to business, and voters, in the run-up to last year’s election.
And that new tone, or more accurately perhaps a return to the old tone, is not just to be noted but welcomed. Doom and gloom have their uses, and Reeves certainly used them to maximum political effect in the weeks before her first Budget. Warnings about the £22bn “black hole”, which she accused the previous Conservative government of bequeathing, coloured pretty much all her pronouncements, followed by alerts as to the difficult measures that would be needed to fill it. Other ministers took their cue.
