People watching Rachel Reeves’ infrastructure speech this morning have taken to social media to point out that those standing behind the Chancellor look “unimpressed.” The Chancellor announced billions of pounds of investment in tram, train and bus projects in the North and Midlands at a bus factory in Rochdale on Wednesday. But it was the men standing behind Ms Reeves that got people talking. @HakunaMatata26C wrote on X: “The men chosen to stand behind Rachel Reeves looked as if they couldn’t wait for it to be over. You could see the relief on their faces when it ended.” @RachelA1892 said: “Watching Reeves give her speech, obviously, she’s blaming the Tories and promising word soup. The men stood behind her reflect how the country feel, totally unimpressed.”

@paulmck41488662 posted: “That young bloke behind Rachel Reeves stole the show and summed up what we are all thinking.” He added that he would like to buy him a beer. @Villa19581 said: “I think the reaction of those guys having to stand behind Rachel Reeves and listen to her boring, droning voice summed up exactly what the rest of us think about this Government.”

Emma Carrick wrote: “Rachel Reeves speaking at bus depot, Greater Manchester. F****** comedy gold.

“Those brilliant ‘working men’ behind her are indicative of each and every one of us. Much thrusting of tongue into cheek, armpit sniffing, head scratching, restless feet. Marvellous stuff.”

@GiftCee made a reference to a blunder made by Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour Party Conference last year, posting: “Look at those sausages, I mean hostages behind Rachel Reeves… Why do they keep doing this to people?

“Why can’t they give a speech without putting people to endure the pain of standing there, like imbeciles.”

Ms Reeves said: ”I have always been clear that the central challenge facing this government is to improve living standards and to renew our public services.”

“For too long, Britain has lagged behind every other G7 economy when it comes to business investment as a share of GDP.

“One of the consequences was that the last parliament was the worst on record for living standards.”

She added: “The previous Government made a lot of commitments. What they didn’t do is put the money in to be able to deliver them. That is the big difference about what we are doing.

“On Wednesday next week I will be setting out in a spending review where you can see every pound allocated, investment for three years for day-to-day spending, investment for five years for capital spending.

“We will then be publishing a 10-year national infrastructure plan. That is a world away.

“You can make all the promises you like but if the money is not there, then they are not real.”