The Chancellor’s self-congratulatory message is her most ill-judged move yet and will come back to haunt her, writes Giles Sheldrick.
Ms Reeves failed to give the full picture in claims the UK economy was strong (Image: Getty)
As Britain wearily awoke from its collective slumber, who should pop up with a new year message of renewal and hope? None other than Rachel Reeves.
The Chancellor took to social media to declare a “vote of confidence in Britain’s economy”.
No, it wasn’t April 1. It was the start of 2026, and the country was facing up to another year of ineptitude under this Labour Government.
While it was true that the FTSE 100 index climbed above 10,000 points for the first time on the first trading day of the year, not for the first time, meddling Ms Reeves was economical with the truth.
The index set a trading record after the new year holiday, rising to reach 10,046 points, before slumping to below the threshold.
So when Ms Reeves described the brief positive note as a “strong start to 2026″ she failed to give the full picture.
The FTSE is dominated by large international companies and is often incorrectly seen as a measure of the UK’s corporate strength.
Actually, it more accurately reflects worldwide activity, as the majority of firms listed earn a significant portion of their revenues overseas, as opposed to domestically. The Chancellor’s self-congratulatory message is her most ill-judged move yet and will surely come back to haunt her.
UK high streets are on their knees. (Image: Getty)
So, when discredited Ms Reeves, who let us not forget snatched £66 billion in taxes from two budgets to plug a fictitious black hole in the public finances largely to fleece those who work hard to keep those who do not, says the result reflects a boom for which she is responsible, she is, again, being rather disingenuous.
It surely also means that when the FTSE 100 plummets, as inevitably it will, the reversal will mean a vote of no confidence in the economy for which she is responsible.
Essentially, the FTSE means little for the UK economy when 70-80% of the index is accounted for by multinational companies in industries like mining and banking.
Ms Reeves’ shameless attempt to take credit for the boom is brass neck in the extreme, especially when she has wreaked so much damage already.
Rather than a virile and buoyant economy that delusional Ms Reeves would like us to believe exists, all the metrics that matter tell a very different story.
Britain’s high streets, from Barnsley to Brighton, Carlisle to Chatham, are on their knees as inflation remains stubbornly high at 3.2% well above the Bank of England’s 2% target, unemployment stands at 5.1% in a depressing trend of joblessness, especially among the younger, while business confidence is virtually nonexistent.
In short, this calamitous lame-duck Chancellor has refused to shoulder any blame or acknowledge responsibility for her economic illiteracy, yet is happy to take credit for something that has nothing to do with her.
Ms Reeves’ ill-judged self-congratulatory message comes after PM Sir Keir Starmer’s new year promise of hope.
They both inhabit a parallel universe and certainly one not recognisable to tens of millions drowning as wave after wave from a mounting cost of living crisis laps at their front doors, or businesses that have had the life sucked from them.
This country deserves better.
