Chancellor’s mission not possible: Reeves has made financial progress an unattainable aim, says ALEX BRUMMER

Against the volatile backcloth of the Iran war, the daring of the Artemis II Moon mission demonstrates how galactic exploration still has the capacity to inspire new generations.

Yes, much of the technology used (except for the new space toilets!) may be retreads from previous programmes.

But the command and control of Nasa, the excitement of the astronauts and the need for perfection, as far as it is attainable, requires everyone involved – from the lowliest ground staff to the scientists and the astronauts themselves – to be single-minded in their devotion to the mission in front of them.

In her 2021 work Mission Economy, UCL economist Mariana Mazzucato sought to demonstrate how Washington, Nasa and the US scientific and industrial communities incorporated the goal of the Apollo missions (1961-1972) to reach and walk on the Moon at the core of everything they did. 

Out of this, focused national endeavour emerged a range of technologies that have become essential elements of life in the 21st century.

Most important, perhaps, was the integrated circuit, forerunner of the silicon chip, modern semi-conductors and now the advanced microprocessors made by Nvidia and central to AI. 

Moonshot: Chancellor Rachel Reeves vowed to put growth at the centre of the nation’s planning system to deliver 1.5m homes in the current Parliament

Other innovative technologies included water purification (critical in the desert Gulf states) and the Apollo Guidance Computer – forerunner of the avionics used by modern fighter jets and ever-more accurate ballistic missiles.

Mazzucato’s advocacy of the mission-driven economy was a clear influence on Chancellor Rachel Reeves when she arrived at the Treasury in July 2024. In an inaugural address, Reeves declared ‘growth is now our national mission’. 

Among other things, Reeves vowed to put growth at the centre of the nation’s planning system to deliver 1.5m homes in the current Parliament.

The declaration of a national mission to deliver growth was easy enough. But the delivery has been far harder. Catalysing the lessons of the Apollo and Artemis programmes proved all but impossible.

Despite bolstering the growth mission of the Treasury, it has become an unattainable goal. It has been and will always be a fiscal department intent on keeping the public finances in check, the bond markets onside and the pound stable and competitive.

History was there for Reeves to see. Harold Wilson’s 1960s government sought to bypass the Treasury by putting George Brown in charge of a new Department of Economic Affairs. Obstruction by a fiscally dominated Treasury meant it never stood a chance.

Indeed, Reeves having made the case for a national mission of growth essentially killed it from her first day in office. 

Her insistence of a black hole in the public finances paved the way for a tax assault which has seen £75billion drained from the economy and alienated business, farmers, entrepreneurs and wealth creators. 

It includes the new inheritance taxes on farms and small firms which came into effect yesterday.

The Chancellor has tried to embed the national growth mission into the nation’s governance at the Bank of England, among competition, City and utility regulators and in the pensions industry. 

Among financial regulators it has met a fresh barrier in the shape of private equity exuberance, the AI bubble and fears of a repeat of the Great Financial Crisis.

The war in the Middle East risks tipping the last vestiges of a growth mission into the outer darkness of space.