Chancellor Rachel Reeves has her critics. And her critics are right.

Counsellor Rachel Reeves has woken up to the scale of her own errors, but too late (Image: Getty)

She made a disastrous start in No. 11, inheriting an economy that was finally showing signs of life, then throttling it.

I could write a book on her early blunders, but here’s a quick rundown of the greatest hits.

Scrapping the winter fuel payment for 10 million pensioners, sparking an instant voter revolt.

Handing public sector workers £9billion in pay rises without demanding a shred of productivity in return.

Spooking taxpayers with promises of a “difficult” Budget, then making them stew for four months, destroying confidence and growth.

Unleashing a record £40billion of tax hikes when the tax burden was already at an all-time high.

Claiming she wouldn’t hike taxes on “working people”, then doing exactly that via a National Insurance rise for employers.

Slapping inheritance tax on farms and family businesses, punishing some of Britain’s hardest workers of all.

Sinking her personal credibility, by embellishing her CV and getting friends to foot the bill for those sharp trouser suits. So when she tried to slash £5billion from disability benefits in the Spring Statement, she lacked the moral authority to do so.

Instead of saving money, Reeves triggered a civil war inside Labour.

Which brings me to the real shock.

Somewhere between the bond market revolt and business backlash, Reeves has had a flicker of clarity.

She seems dimly aware that she can’t tax and spend her way to growth. But here’s the problem: the rest of Labour hasn’t noticed.

Or doesn’t care.

As Reeves clings to her fiscal rules, Angela Rayner wants to blow a hole in them by spending more and taxing more. And the Labour Party is with her.

PM Keir Starmer is tying himself in knots, trying to please everyone while panicking about the threat posed by Nigel Farage and Reform UK.

Nobody in the Labour Party wants to hear about the budget deficit, our rocketing borrowing costs or out-of-control national debt.

They just want the Chancellor to tax and spend. Then tax and spend some more.

In a bizarre twist, Reeves now looks like the only grown-up in the room. Which says a lot, given the juvenile mistakes she’s made.

Let’s not get carried away.

The Chancellor’s embrace of fiscal sobriety is too little, too late. Her credibility is already shot. Starmer is now reversing her big calls.

Nobody believes her anymore. Last November, she promised no more tax hikes, possibly for the entire Parliament.

Expert after expert is now warning that more tax hikes are coming in October, possibly as much as another £30billion.

Which will destroy growth all over again. As we reported this morning, Britain is now on the road to bankruptcy.

Reeves has learned some hard lessons but too slowly, and at too high a cost. The rest of the Labour Party has learned nothing.

The real horror isn’t that she’s finally got serious. It’s that she’s the only one in the cabinet who is.

And she’s about to be crushed by a party that’s stopped listening to her. With horrifying consequences for all of us.