It all sounded so good. The government offered us change.
The UK would be the fastest growing advanced economy. Prices would be under control. £300 would come off our energy bills as renewable power rolled out. There would be a new era of economic stability.
Six months on the government and economy is in meltdown.
The Chancellor makes her deputy explain why interest and mortgage rates are up, why the pound is down, why energy prices are rising, why pensioner fuel grants have been removed, why many businesses are saying they need to stop hiring, why farmers are in despair, why growth has slumped.
It all comes down to a bad start talking everything down and threatening all kinds of tax rises, followed by a worse budget which taxes too much, put businesses off investing and growing, and has now spooked the markets.
The government's original aim to get faster growth was the right one. It would mean we could afford better public services based on the extra taxes a bigger economy pays.
It would means individuals and families had more money to spend on improving their own living standards. Instead of having a plan for faster growth the government decided to savage the private sector in ways that are bound to slow it.
They literally banned all expansion and new jobs in oil, gas, and petrol car manufacture. They hit business with more energy taxes and higher energy prices, leading to more steel, petrochemical and other industrial closures.
They hit all employers with a big tax rise on employing people and then looked surprised when shops, farms, leisure centres and care homes all said it meant job cuts and price rises.
Financial markets have been plunged into turmoil during Rachel Reeves' time as Chancellor.Getty ImagesSo now the government pathetically is asking for ideas as to how they get growth going again. The Prime Minister is asking Regulators. How would they know?
You need to ask the businesses who create the jobs and try to sell us more goods and services. The Chancellor is asking government departments, as if the Treasury is clueless and does not know what the priorities of the other departments are.
Spending more on Whitehall's priorities will not solve the problem. Interest rates are already being driven up and confidence down by the Chancellor spending and borrowing too much to look after the public sector, whilst taxing the private sector into decline. More public spending would bring more interest rate pain.
The Chancellor jetted off to visit China in the middle of the market storm. She claimed that our trade with China is important, and her visit could help expand it. She says our trade is £87billion a year, but two thirds of that is imports.
Boosting Chinese sales to us more will destroy more UK jobs, cut our tax revenues and give us a bigger trade deficit. China is looking for more ways to overwhelm us with her electric cars, batteries, wind turbines and solar panels, all the things this government wants to spend money on.
China saw us coming as a soft touch business opportunity with a weakness for green products we do not make for ourselves. What is the Chancellor proposing to help UK businesses sell into China? Why no mention in any of her reported statements of what great British products she is trying to sell?
LATEST MEMBERSHIP OPINION:
The UK can grow a lot faster than today's near zero growth. To do that it needs lower taxes on employing UK staff, the reversal of the bans on UK energy and petrol cars and a budget which lifts business confidence.
The budget and her changes to the economic rules have created a doom loop. Too much public spending and borrowing pushes up interest rates.
The government has to spend much more on paying for its own excessive debts. The Chancellor then has to cut more items from spending and look for more tax rises.
That damages confidence more, forcing government to yet more austerity. The Prime Minister will probably keep the Chancellor struggling in office, to take more of the hits from a bruising attempt to cut back public spending for future years.
She is already very unpopular with Labour MPs, so she could end up losing her job, after destroying many job opportunities for others through her failing budget choices.
