THE British public aren’t fools.
When a politician spouts a fact, a stat or a promise, they note it.
They take it even more seriously when it comes from the country’s second most powerful legislator — the woman who can make or break their bank accounts.
So what on earth was the Chancellor thinking, standing before the public this month to, at best, mislead them about the stakes going into the Budget?
In the chaotic weeks before the tax-raiding bonanza, Ms Reeves’ message was simple: Britain is in a major financial deficit, and I will have to make unpopular choices to get us out of it.
Only… we now know the Chancellor was told by the OBR as early as 31 October that no such deficit existed.
In fact, the Treasury was in the fiscal green by £4.2bn.
To add insult to injury — and in what can only be described as gaslighting — a Downing Street spokesperson today insisted Ms Reeves never misled the public.
They said her 4 November speech warning of “tough decisions” ahead was completely normal and fair.
The spin from No10 is dishonest.
Clearly, the public were not given the full facts by the Treasury — and it’s obvious why.
Ms Reeves likely wanted to keep the £30bn black-hole narrative alive to justify an onslaught of tax hikes that would keep her backbenchers happy.
It may also be that clinging to doom and gloom let her look as if she was weighing an income tax hike.
Then, when one inevitably didn’t happen, she’d win plaudits for sparing workers.
Politicians always have, and always will, make decisions that swathes of the public hate.
And they’ve always been given time and space to justify their choices.
But deliberate misleading — or, at worst, lying — crosses a line.
Voters are not mugs and they won’t forgive the Chancellor for treating them as such.
She will need to explain herself to them. Pronto.
