Rachel Reeves still has much explaining to do

Editorial: The shadow chancellor’s most consequential policy speech to date was an opportunity for her to outline the guiding principles and fiscal rules for Labour’s much-vaunted ‘decade of renewal’ – but it also revealed a great uncertainty about what it will mean for the national balance sheet

In her prestigious Mais lecture, Reeves hinted at her economic thinking but did not develop her ideas into a clear plan (PA)

In all likelihood, Britain is only seven months away from a general election that the Labour Party will almost certainly win. It is now too late for any Conservative leader to salvage the situation, simply because of that time constraint.

Inflation is dropping towards the official 2 per cent annual target; the economy may well be out of its shallow recession by now; more tax cuts are on the way. But the voters are no longer listening. They made their minds up long ago.

The reasons for the Tory defeat will mostly not be found in what happens over the next few months, but what has happened in the last few years – and, indeed, since the first Conservative-dominated administration was formed in 2010. Change feels inevitable.