Rachel Reeves says the UK’s public finances are in a dire state – but here’s why I’m cautiously optimistic

The chancellor gives her first speech at the Treasury on 8 July. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

A Labour government that comes to power after a prolonged period of unbroken Conservative rule. A sense in the country that something has gone seriously wrong with the economy and that change is needed. A backdrop of rapid technological change. For 2024, read 1964. For Sir Keir Starmer, read Harold Wilson.

Wilson came to power with a national plan to grow the economy by 25% by the end of the 1960s. Starmer has a national mission to make the UK the fastest growing economy in the G7. We’ve been here before, but there is a chance – no more than that – that things may turn out better for Starmer than they did for Wilson.