PALTAN: BOX OFFICE BATTLE

IF ONLY voters had listened to Rishi Sunak last year, the economy would today have been in a much healthier state. Inflation was about two per cent when he was oust­ed from office. As chancellor, Rachel Reeves has managed to double that.

The Daily Telegraph wants Reeves to re­sign, allegedly because she misled the coun­try. She claimed the economy faced a black hole of £20–30 billion, but it has now emerged that Richard Hughes, chair of the indepen­dent Office for Budget Responsibility, told Reeves that “at no point” she faced a shortfall of more than £2.5bn. Hughes also confirmed that on October 31, the OBR upgraded its forecasts and told the chancellor that she, in fact, had a £4.2bn surplus. In other words, she stands accused of lying in order to justify her decision to raise taxes by £26bn.