In more normal times, the job of the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be to fill any black holes in the Government’s finances.
But our new Treasury chief, Rachel Reeves, seems to think it is her job to create such black holes or even invent them when they are not there.
The current briefings flowing from our finance ministry are quite astonishing.
The public and Parliament are being asked to believe that Ms Reeves and her team, and the Prime Minister, were unaware of the true state of the nation’s accounts until they were ushered into their new Whitehall offices just after the election.
We are supposed to accept that they gasped in horror as the truth was laid before them.
And that, as a result, all their promises of moderation and restraint are null and void.
Perhaps it was once true that Oppositions could be kept in the dark about such things, and so be able to say truly that they were surprised when they opened the books.
Tory Chancellor Reginald Maudling famously told his incoming Labour opposite number in 1964: ‘Sorry to leave it in such a mess’ (which he had done).
Our new Treasury chief, Rachel Reeves , seems to think it is her job to create black holes in the Government’s finances or even invent them when they are not there
The Starmer government is pledged, for the moment, to leave VAT, income tax and National Insurance rates alone, though it will be interesting to see how long it will be before yet more ‘unexpected’ developments lead to a rethink
And Labour’s Liam Byrne equally famously left a letter behind at his Treasury desk in 2010, saying rather frivolously to his Tory successor: ‘I’m afraid there is no money.’
He was – rightly – never allowed to forget it.
But after that the Tories set up the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which has since 2010 run a constant audit of the state of the Government’s books.
The Shadow Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, says Rachel Reeves’s claims to have found the economy in a worse state than expected are ‘nothing but a fabrication’.
He concludes: ‘The reality is she does not want to take the difficult decisions on pay, productivity or welfare reform that would have meant we could live within our means and is laying the ground for tax rises.’
She is also preparing the way for disappointing spending cuts, affecting the long-discussed scheme for a £1.7 billion road tunnel under Stonehenge, and major Tory plans to build 40 hospitals.
Yet she seems ready to meet giant public sector pay review awards of 5.5 per cent – well above inflation.
The Starmer government is pledged, for the moment, to leave VAT, income tax and National Insurance rates alone, though it will be interesting to see how long it will be before yet more ‘unexpected’ developments lead to a rethink there.
The new Cabinet is also going to find it hard to abandon any big capital projects, because they have only just pledged a giant building spree, supposedly to revive the economy (which is, in fact, not doing all that badly).
Ms Reeves is now refusing to say she has ‘no plans’ to increase or change wealth, property or inheritance taxes – a distinct shift since the election campaign.
The Blair-Brown government of 1997, whose methods Sir Keir Starmer has copied in many ways, carefully kept secret a major raid on private pensions which devastated that whole sector
Who knows what she will do, or how long this supposedly urgent swerve in policy has in fact been planned?
The Blair-Brown government of 1997, whose methods Sir Keir Starmer has copied in many ways, carefully kept secret a major raid on private pensions which devastated that whole sector.
As well as being greedy with other people’s money, and blazingly dishonest, this is inept government.
Once again, Labour shows that it simply cannot be trusted with other people’s money.
In choosing a new leader, and a new direction, the Tories need to bear in mind that the nation does not just need a fierce and hard-hitting Opposition.
It may also need a new government rather sooner than many thought on the morning of July 5.