Rachel Reeves’s speech in Downing Street this morning was highly unusual. Hearing a Chancellor make a speech outlining how difficult the environment is ahead of a Budget has obviously surprised the media.

Equally extraordinary were Reeves’s targets of blame for the current predicament. They were many and varied: from Brexit and Donald Trump’s tariffs , to – predictably – “years of economic mismanagement” by the last Conservative Government.

Governments always blame others for their own shortcomings. They generally do this immediately upon taking office – and Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour was no different. At the time of last year’s Budget, we were told that the exceptional tax rises were necessary to stabilise the economy after 14 years of Tory misrule.

At that time, Labour claimed to

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