In defence of tough decisions

THE biggest lesson Labour has learned since the election is that government is not easy - especially when the previous one left the economy in shreds.

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Labour's 218 new MPs who arrived in the Commons last year are uncomfortable voting for un-Labour-like things such as taking money off pensioners and the disabled.

They did not come into politics to make the poor poorer. Yet short-term cash must come from somewhere. And if not here, where?

The long-term answer from Rachel Reeves is that economic growth will provide.