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.

ANALYSIS: A leading eco-campaigner has already condemned Labour as 'worse than the Tories' and the Greens are ready to strike in key constituencies

If you add in Labour's decision to abandon plans to upgrade part of the A1 in Northumberland to dual carriageway, you can forgive the region for casting a rather envious glance at Rachel Reeves' push for growth in the south.

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.

Reeves confirmed the government is backing plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport, arguing it could create 100,000 jobs. The plans received parliamentary approval in June 2018, but have been stuck in limbo after legal challenges ever since.

Chancellor’s optimistic economic growth vision hit in the short term as Tesco and Lloyds announce hundreds of job losses and she admits fixing the economy is ‘not an easy job’