It is barely three weeks since Rachel Reeves delivered her spring statement, which, from today’s economic perspective, now seems like a lost golden age of bright hopes and high ambitions.
The event was designed to be low-key but upbeat, albeit one unsettled by the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East. Acknowledging the changing context, the chancellor still announced that Britain enjoyed the fastest growth of any European G7 nation, that GDP forecasts were being upgraded for the latter years of this parliament, and inflation and interest rates were set on a gradual downwards path.
