![\"Rachel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770977830_506_rachel-reeves.png\")
<\/p>\nChancellor Rachel Reeves was all smiles on camera this morning, and taking selfies with BT Openreach workers near Gatwick Airport in Sussex after BT announced \u00a35billion investment in improving broadband. <\/p>\n
Ms Reeves was trumpeting economic growth, telling me on GB News the \u201ceconomy grew by 1.3 per cent last year, a higher growth than the year before, and GDP per capita increased by 1 per cent last year after falling in five years under the previous Government. So we are growing our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
She rejected Health Secretary Wes Streeting\u2019s assertion in texts to the now disgraced Peter Mandelson the Government has \u201cno plan for growth\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Chancellor hit back: \u201cWes Streeting was clear yesterday that one of the mistakes in his messages to Peter Mandelson was that we had no economic plan.\u201d <\/p>\n
But look past the smiles and the headlines, and all is not well. Sure, 1.3 per cent growth is better than nothing and better than the 1 per cent in 2024…but it\u2019s hardly the growth the country needs, or anything like the levels we enjoyed before the financial crisis of 2008.<\/p>\n
However, it hides an even bleaker picture. <\/p>\n
Most of the growth was in the first quarter; in the last three months of the year, the economy grew by a measly 0.1 per cent. <\/p>\n
Our vital services sector was flat for the first time in over two years, and construction was the worst for four years.<\/p>\n
Rachel Reeves trumpeted economic growth during a chat with journalists<\/p>\n
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GB NEWS<\/p>\n
And in terms of GDP per capita, it\u2019s even worse, falling for the last six months of last year.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the measure that matters to people, who desperately want to feel things are getting better.<\/p>\n
Ms Reeves tried to reassure GB News viewers: \u201cWe’re bringing down the cost of living: \u00a3150 off of people’s energy bills from April, freezing prescription charges and train fares, continuing with the bus fare cap. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of those are putting the money in the pockets of ordinary working people. So they’ve got more money to spend in their high streets, in their local area.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Katherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/katherine-forster.png\")
GB News’ Chief Political Correspondent Katherine Forster questioned the Chancellor about economic growth<\/p>\n
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GB NEWS<\/p>\n
But of course, Britons have to contend with huge tax rises, frozen tax thresholds and hits to businesses which they say are stopping them from hiring staff and investing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a far cry from the world Labour promised before their landslide: growth was going to fund the spending needed to turn the country around, they told us, with tax rises limited to non-doms and private schools.<\/p>\n
How times have changed.<\/p>\n
They also promised to \u201crestore calm, competent Government\u201d and \u201cend the chaos\u201d. <\/p>\n
Yet this week has seen a Prime Minister cling to office by his fingertips, and cabinet ministers openly find fault with Labour\u2019s record so far.<\/p>\n
The very fact the Health Secretary\u2019s words are now being used against the Government shows just the level of chaos of the week.<\/p>\n
And it is likely going to get worse. For all the missteps of Ms Reeves and Sir Keir, if they are deposed, what follows?<\/p>\n
Likely a Government further to the left, led perhaps by Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband. Likely a Government less concerned with keeping the markets onside.<\/p>\n
Remember how the markets took fright when Rachel Reeves cried in the chamber. Markets like stability. Not change, not chaos.<\/p>\n
The PM is the most unpopular in modern history, and Reeves is widely thought to have made growth harder to come by through her tax rises and demands on business.<\/p>\n
But perhaps the many who think MPs should roll the dice and try again should be careful what they wish for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chancellor Rachel Reeves was all smiles on camera this morning, and taking selfies with BT Openreach workers near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,229,1445,56,44208,54,55],"class_list":["post-423402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-politics","tag-rachel-reeves","tag-uk","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}