Are Rachel Reeves’s efforts to win business confidence ‘fiddling while Rome burns’?

Rachel Reeves and Jonathan Reynolds have been highlighting that Britain is ‘open for business’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/Treasury

Roughing up industry regulators, jetting to Davos to court the global elite, and preparing to greenlight airport expansion: after a difficult start to the year, Rachel Reeves is working overtime to regain business confidence.

Financial market turbulence at the start of the year has been followed by a pro-growth charm offensive aimed at getting Labour back on the front foot, before the chancellor goes further in a speech she is expected to give next week.