An unmistakeable hint of triumph. You couldn’t miss it. After a torrid few months, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves clearly enjoyed her moment yesterday, particularly talking about the oodles of cash she’s spending on nuclear power.

“The right choice for bills, the right choice for jobs and the right choice for growth,” she said to cheers from the government benches, “this government is investing in the biggest roll out of investment in nuclear for half a century.”

She didn’t add “top that, Swinney,” but a gauntlet was unmistakeably proffered.

Jobs, apprenticeships, investment – oh, and it’s low carbon too: Labour’s sales pitch on nuclear power is a challenge to the SNP’s “no new nuclear” policy (conveniently overlooking that the decision to prevent new nuclear was originally taken by the Labour-Lib Dem coalition).

Backing new nuclear power hits two spots for Labour – one, it helps with energy security, providing a low carbon baseload power source for when the wind isn’t blowing, and two, it will create jobs and rather a lot of them (10,000 at Sizewell C in Suffolk, Reeves claims, including 1,500 apprenticeships).

Read more Rebecca McQuillan

This is all music to the ears of traditional Labour supporters who are disorientated by the ongoing retreat from traditional industry, alarmed about the wind-down of oil and gas, and sceptical about the capacity of the renewables sector to replace lost jobs. We hear you, the Chancellor is saying. Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, has been out reminding people that the SNP is refusing to........

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