They lied through their teeth during the election, claiming they’d only hike taxes by £8.5billion, none of which would affect “working people”. In 18 months, they’ve hit us for £66billion, and there’s almost certainly more to come. They misled the Waspi women, farmers, publicans and small businesses. They spun tales about the winter fuel payment, the two-child cap and much more besides. And they won’t stop.

Of course, all politicians stretch the truth. But an even bigger problem is that these two are incompetent too, and should never have been allowed anywhere near the UK economy. This morning we got a reminder of both traits – being incompetent, and fibbing about it. To our faces.

First, we learned this morning that the economy is still flatlining on their watch, confirming their incompetence. Second, we saw their sheer dishonesty, in their pathetic attempts to pretend they’re doing a great job.

The UK economy grew a feeble 0.1% between October and December last year. I suppose Starmer and Reeves are right in one respect. The economy isn’t moving. It’s at a standstill. That’s stability of sorts.

Rather than face this, Reeves went into denial mode. Yes, politicians try to spin their failures as well as their successes, but she’s particularly inept at it.

She immediately banged on about the UK seeing six interest rate cuts since the election. But she doesn’t make that decision. It has nothing to do with her. That’s down to the Bank of England, and rates could have fallen much further had Reeves not stoked inflation with her tax-and-spend Budgets. In Europe, interest rates are down to 2%. Here base rate stands at 3.75%. Spot the difference.

Reeves also claimed inflation is falling faster than predicted. That’s nonsense. It actually rose in December to 3.4%. In the eurozone, inflation was back near 2% months ago. Here, it’s stickier, and her policies are the main reason.

The Chancellor then declared she’s “building a stronger and more secure economy, cutting the cost of living, cutting the national debt and creating the conditions for growth and investment in every part of the country”.

There’s just one problem with that sentence. Almost every part of it is untrue. None of those things are happening. And her boss is just as bad.

Today, Starmer tweeted: “Today’s GDP figures show our economy is growing. That means more money in your back pocket.”

Which is rubbish. First, growth of 0.1% is barely growth at all. It’s a rounding error. Nobody feels that in their pocket.

Second, that figure refers to total GDP. If Starmer is talking about people’s pockets individually, he should look at GDP per person. And that is shrinking, as the population continues to rise through immigration.

Real GDP per head, which measures output per person, fell by 0.1% in both of the last two quarters of 2025. So he’s telling porkies again.

While Reeves and Starmer lecture us about “growth”, we’re getting poorer on a per-person basis. They’re not just mismanaging the economy, but trying to gaslight the country about it.

Killing growth is bad enough. Pretending it’s booming, and expecting us to clap along, is the final insult.