Rachel Reeves has been hit by a jobs slump as she prepares to take a gamble on the nation’s finances with a giant spending spree.
In a blow that makes a mockery of the Chancellor’s claim to have ‘fixed the foundations’ of the economy, official figures showed a quarter of a million jobs have gone since her tax-raising Budget last year.
Experts said it was a ‘painful lesson in basic economics’ for Ms Reeves after she ignored warnings and levied a £25 billion ‘jobs tax’ on National Insurance. The Chancellor will today set out Labour’s spending plans for the rest of the Parliament following a bitter Cabinet battle over how to divide up the proceeds from last year’s Budget.
Last night Ms Reeves admitted that voters do not feel like they have more money in their pockets as Labour prepares to mark one year in office.
But she claimed that turning on the spending taps would ensure ‘working people all over our country are better off’.
