Alex Brummer

ALEX BRUMMER: If only we had an Elon Musk to shrink the British state

Instead of the pro-growth Budget Reeves had pledged, she and Keir Starmer have levelled swingeing taxes on business, hiked the cost of hiring people and inflicted penal levies on enterprise.

Any hopes that Britain's first woman Chancellor had of a smooth run-in to her first Budget tomorrow have been dashed.

A favourite ploy of any government, when short of cash, is to declare war on tax-dodgers and announce a new brigade of enforcers to chase down the culprits.

The Washington-based forecaster's chief economist Pierre Olivier-Gourinchas yesterday said the Chancellor must tread a 'narrow path' to build fiscal buffers but preserve output.

ALEX BRUMMER: Britain - having won 140 Nobel prizes since 1901 - comes second to the US, which has a population five times bigger.

Amid the intense battles in the Middle East, few questions are asked as to the source of Iranian financial firepower, which fuels the conflict.

The change of heart is so brazen it takes the breath away. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has spent the months since the election tolling the bell of doom, telling us to abandon all hope.

At a recent dinner with top executives of a leading FTSE100 company, the human resources chief almost fell off her chair at the thought of a four-day week as part of Labour's plan to 'make work pay'.

In the months before the General Election, it was almost impossible to attend City or business events without bumping into the then shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.