Rachel Reeves may not get an official exam transcript, but the numbers categorically show she’s flunked her growth mission, writes Damian Pudner

Last month, hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the country opened their exam results with a mix of dread and hope. For some it was a moment of joy, for others of disappointment. But for all of them, it was a reminder that ambition and effort mean little unless they translate into results on the page. In economic policy, the same principle applies. A year into Rachel Reeves’s tenure as Chancellor, the results are in.

Back in December, I argued in these pages that Labour’s economic strategy was a gamble: put growth at the centre of policy and everything else would follow. It was the right ambition, and worth granting the new Chancellor the benefit of the doubt. Britain craved stability after years of turbulence. But the grades now in front of us are not the ones she promised.

What do the numbers say?

On growth and productivity, the Chancellor is failing. GDP growth is flatlining at a meagre one per cent. Productivity remains dismal. Public debt hovers around 100 per cent of GDP, with both the IMF and OBR projecting it will climb further. The deficit sits stubbornly above five per cent.

© City A.M.