A positive new report raises the question: was Reeves undermined by dodgy data?

When the former chancellor Rachel Reeves returns to the backbenches this autumn, she will have some right to wonder if she was let down by ONS figures. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

The keen new chancellor, John Healey, responded to last week’s better-than-expected economic news by claiming the government was “bringing hope back”. Growth did not plunge as feared after Donald Trump unleashed war on Iran – with GDP expanding at a pretty decent 0.4% in the second quarter.

But what if we should have held on to a bit more hope all along? A new assessment of the UK’s recent productivity suggests this critical measure of the country’s economic strength may have been systematically underestimated.