Of all the Chancellors this country has ever had, I’m struggling to find one who has been as egregiously out of their depth as Rachel Reeves. Her fiscal decision-making, make no mistake, is destroying the UK economy and eviscerating business confidence. The UK economy delivering zero growth in January is the latest example of this wanton destruction. What we’ve seen since Labour came into power is economic mismanagement and fiscal ineptitude on a scale never before seen.

We are being taken to the brink. Thanks to Reeves and Labour more widely, businesses aren’t hiring because they can’t afford to due to the punitive hikes in Employers’ National Insurance and the minimum wage, which will rise again next month. Unemployment is soaring as a result, while over one in eight young people are now NEET (not in education, employment or training). The UK is no longer a land of opportunity. It is a wasteland.

And yet in a post on X earlier this month, Reeves had the audacity to claim she is “growing the economy” and that “my economic plan is the right one for Britain.”

Reeves’ economic plan is the right one? What planet is she on?

Now, zero growth in January is not exactly the best start to the year. It shows an economy that is running on fumes and, frankly, rudderless.

Businesses are being beaten with a stick, their confidence shot, while the consumer is spent out.

The irony is that, just a fortnight or so ago, things were looking slightly rosier for the UK.

The Bank of England was predicting inflation would return to around its 2% target by late spring, and a much-needed interest rate cut next week was a strong possibility.

Businesses and mortgage borrowers alike were rubbing their hands, thinking the worst was behind them.

But then Trump launched missiles at Iran and everything changed. Literally overnight.

There’s no hiding from the fact that our economy is now facing a serious inflationary threat due to the war in the Middle East.

The price of Brent crude was back above $100 on Friday morning, and it’s already feeding through into prices at the pumps. Suddenly, at dinner tables around the UK, everyone is talking about the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.

This is something even a robust economy would struggle to deal with, but our economy will have to do so when it’s already lying flat on the canvas.

Just as we had been preparing for a return to 2% inflation and lower interest rates, inflation could potentially now skyrocket, and any prospect of a base rate cut in 2026 is suddenly looking very remote.

The Bank of England had seemed slightly overzealous in its inflation forecasts for 2026 to date and is almost certainly now set to have some egg on its face.

Short of the conflict in the Middle East resolving itself, and fast, the risk of recession and stagflation is now real, very real.

2026 is now shaping up to be an annus horribilis.