‘Rishi’s recession’: Reeves seizes her moment to take the economic high ground

The venue for Rachel Reeves’s press conference was styled to look similar to the briefing room in Downing Street. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

As she stood beside two union flags in a wood-panelled room, it looked as if Rachel Reeves had stepped into Rishi Sunak’s own press conference room in Downing Street – a deliberate move.

The shadow chancellor had been preparing for this moment for months, warning of the heightened risk of recession ever since the last quarter’s GDP figures showed negative growth.