First the spending review.now the economy - what else lies in wait for Reeves?

Good thing for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, that the latest economic snapshot came out on a Thursday - the spending review might otherwise have turned into a wake.

- JAMES MOORE

Official figures showed UK plc plunged into the red in April, contracting by 0.3 per cent. There is no sugarcoating how bad a result that is. April’s economic data was always going to be poor after an unexpectedly strong performance during the prior three-month (January to March) quarter, in which UK plc showed some surprising vim, expanding by 0.7 per cent.

The trouble is, it was a bit of a mirage. Exporters going hell for leather to get in ahead of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which landed like a ton of bricks on 2 April, played a big role in driving the unexpectedly strong growth early in the year. This was always going to unwind.

But Trump wasn’t the only April surprise. Remember, it was misery month for consumers and businesses alike. The former faced a string of bills and tax rises; the latter had to deal with a sharp rise in employment costs as a result of Reeves increasing employer national insurance contributions and boosting the minimum wage.

The wages of taxing jobs were there for all to see earlier this week when official figures showed that more than a quarter of a million jobs had been lost as a result.