Rachel Reeves destroys everything she touches – | Personal Finance | Finance

The reverse Midas touch is defined as “the tendency to ruin or destroy any object or task at hand”. And that’s what Rachel Reeves has done since taking power.

Every pledge, every boast, every dodgy promise has fallen apart in her hands.

The law of averages suggests she’d get at least one thing right. But so far, none.

Reeves has repeatedly pledged to deliver sustained economic growth. She called it “our national mission”.

Yet the economy stopped growing the moment she took charge of it. Now it’s started to shrink. Soon we might slump into recession.

All thanks to her hiking taxes and banging on incessantly about her black hole.

And that’s just for starters.

Deutsche Bank predicts her decision to hike employer’s national insurance by £25billion in the Budget will wipe out at least 100,000 jobs, as businesses cover the cost by making staff redundant.

When consumer price inflation fell to 1.7% in September, the nation breathed a collective sigh of relief thinking the cost-of-living crisis was finally over.

Reeves’ Budget killed that prospect. The Bank of England quickly warned her tax and spending splurge will drive inflation back up.

Which means fewer interest rate cuts. And higher mortgages.

The inflationary upsurge is partly down to expectations that Donald Trump will slash corporate taxes and impose tariffs on imports.

But Reeves has done her bit too.

Her pledge to follow “robust fiscal rules” collapsed after she fiddled with them to justify borrowing an extra £30billion.

Now the bond market no longer trusts her, plunging us into crisis.

Today, Barclays warned Reeves will either have to cut spending or hike taxes in the spring, to balance the books. That’s yet another mess of her own making.

Reeves has made a big show of sticking to the “principles of sound money and economic responsibility”.

Yields on 10-year government gilts have just hit their highest level since the financial crisis in 2008. So that’s something else she’s wrecked.

The pound is her next victim.

Today, Deutsche Bank told investors to sell sterling because recent falls have “further to go”. So we can now expect a further decline in our spending power.

Is there anything she hasn’t trashed?

I haven’t even mentioned the Winter Fuel Payment or the fallout from scrapping the planned social care cap.

Or the havoc she will wreak by imposing inheritance tax on farmers and businesses.

As chaos mounts Reeves continues to claim that she has restored stability.

I dread to think what she will touch next. For all our sakes, let’s hope it’s her P45.