It has been a wild January for Rachel Reeves and frankly for economics in the UK and the world.When Labour swept to victory last summer, Reeves pledged she would be an "iron" chancellor, reining in public spending and improving the lives of working people through growing the economy.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves spelled out her plans to revive the country's slow-moving economy on Wednesday, adding to recent pledges to reform investment and planning rules with a commitment to back airport expansion at Heathrow.

After six months of talking down the economy and warning of tough times ahead, the UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has changed her tune. She is now much more optimistic about Britain’s economic prospects and has announced a raft of measures including major pension reforms designed to unlock cash to boost growth and productivity.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday that "economic growth is the number one mission of this government" as she unveiled a series of proposals to boost the UK's economy. But how quickly could the government get growth from the plans she announced?

Yet since the general election last July, this growth has proved elusive. In fairness, the UK economy been pretty stagnant for a long time. And as Reeves sometimes mentions, she arguably inherited the worst set of economic circumstances since 1974.