Can Reeves tell Britain the truth about the economy?

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has caused a bit of a stir by accusing the government of “gaslighting” Britain over the economy. She told an audience in the City: “They say we’ve turned a corner. But try telling that to the 6.4 million households across England and Wales that last year saw their rent increase or had to remortgage.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Or the 950,000 families whose mortgage deal is due to expire between now and January. They say ‘the plan is working’. Is this the same plan that has meant this is forecast to be the first parliament on record with living standards actually lower at its end than at the start?”

In fairness, much of her speech was the usual knocking copy on the government’s record, as opposed to a detailed plan for a parliamentary term, let alone the “decade of renewal” she and Keir Starmer are hoping for.

Is Rachel Reeves right about the economy?

Broadly, yes. One of the many presentational weaknesses of recent Conservative administrations has been to overstate Britain’s economic success, and in such a way that it creates unhelpful dissonance between people’s day-to-day experiences and whatever the government fancifully claims on social media and in speeches and interviews. At least Sunak isn’t as mindlessly boosterish as Boris Johnson.

The difference between a country in mild recession, crawling out of such a recession, or experiencing minimal, anaemic growth is imperceptible to the average person, so claims about growth are bound to be viewed sceptically.