Will Rachel pay the price for her biggest gamble?

RACHEL Reeves has taken a massive gamble — on the economy, Labour's political fortunes and her own future as Chancellor.

- MARTYN BROWN

Her gargantuan spree in this week’s Spending Review set the clock ticking on all three. But time is not on her side.

The economy is in retreat again, her party is plunging in the polls and the vultures are circling to oust her from No11.

Labour chancellors tend to stick around - the current incumbent is only their sixth across four governments in 60 years.

Jim Callaghan lasted three years and Roy Jenkins nearly had the same innings until he was ousted in Labour’s 1970 election defeat.

When they returned to power four years later, Denis Healey held the position for five years until the Tories, under Margaret Thatcher, swept into power in 1979.

Spectre

Gordon Brown was Chancellor for a decade in the Blair era, with Alastair Darling becoming the country’s accountant during Brown’s three-year tenure as Prime Minister.

But, much like the economy, the likelihood of Ms Reeves being a long-term Chancellor is shrinking. Official figures show gross domestic product fell by 0.3% in April - the fourth time it has shrunk during her first 10 months in charge of the nation’s coffers.

The Treasury knew this dip was coming. So it came as no surprise when she delivered her spending blueprint on Wednesday that the Chancellor reached for Labour’s old comfort blanket of higher taxes, higher borrowing and higher spending.

In an unprecedented spending spree, Ms Reeves splashed out £300billion, which will eventually run into the trillions.

Her largesse already means many in England and Wales will be forking out on higher council taxes to help fund the police - something she didn’t explicitly set out at the Despatch Box.

Meanwhile, Government borrowing is running at £148billion — £11billion higher than forecast — and there is the spectre of further tax hikes to come in the autumn.

Ms Reeves’s massive spree means she can point to shiny new infrastructure projects and talk the language of “renewal”.