Rachel Reeves has certainly done some daft things. During the 2024 general election, she repeatedly pledged not to increase taxes on working people, only to hammer us for almost £70billion in short order. Did she think voters wouldn’t notice? She then tried to look tough by axing the winter fuel payment for 10million pensioners, including those on as little as £11,350 a year. That destroyed Labour’s post-electoral popularity at a stroke, and ended in a humiliating U-turn. Her most damaging mistake was hiking employer’s National Insurance by £26billion. That destroyed jobs, businesses and high streets, and drove up inflation as businesses passed on the cost to customers.

Last year the UK economy flatlined. Plenty of things did grow though. Public spending and pay, unemployment, the national debt, borrowing costs and our tax bills have all rocketed. When Labour took office, the tax take was 37.6% of GDP. The IMF says it will hit 42.1% by the end of this Parliament. And what are we getting for itNot even a functioning army, with the world edging towards war.

Here’s the truly frightening part. Despite all those tax hikes, Reeves still can’t balance the books. In February alone, she borrowed £13.4billion. Incredibly, £12billion of that was to service interest on our stonking £3trillion debt.

Despite all those tax hikes she’ll still borrow a staggering £130billion this year, ballooning the national debt. Reeves says she can’t find £28billion to bring the military up to scratch, yet she’s spending roughly four times that on debt interest alone. It’s absurd. To be fair, Reeves didn’t create most of this debt. The financial crisis, pandemic, energy shock and Liz Truss did the heavy lifting. But everything she’s done since has compounded the problem.

She’s had one piece of bad luck, In February, growth came in at 0.5%. Normally that would be cause for optimism, but then came the conflict with Iran. Just when I was beginning to feel a little sympathy for Reeves, she ruined it by asking us to swallow this whopper, saying: “We entered this conflict in a stronger position because of the choices this government took to build economic stability.”

She can’t really believe that. It’s just not true. The IMF and OECD both warn that under Reeves the UK is in a worse position than any other major economy. Growth will slow faster, inflation will rise more rapidly, borrowing costs will climb still higher. Yet Reeves claims to have restored stability. She’s taking us for fools.

We recently paid a thumping 5% on 10-year gilts, the highest since 2008. We simply cannot afford to borrow any more money. The bond market won’t let us. Yet still the spending pledges keep coming. As do the taxes, with inheritance tax on pensions and Reeves’s new 2% savings tax landing next April, while income tax thresholds remain frozen all the way to 2031.

Soon they’ll hit levels not seen since the Second World War. Yet the Labour left and Zack Polanski’s insane Green Party want to throw even more at welfare.

Sky-high taxes, spending and debt have strangled growth, and Rachel Reeves calls it “stability”. She’s clinging to a desperate lie, hoping someone, somewhere, will believe it. Nobody does. When the truth hits, we’ll all pay a frightening price.