Be careful what you wish for.
Rachel Reeves spent three years as shadow chancellor planning for the day when she would finally become the first female resident of 11 Downing Street.
Businesses were wooed and voters were told that Labour was “ready to serve, ready to lead, ready to rebuild Britain”.
All that hard work came to fruition last July when, after 14 years of the Tories’ economic under-performance, the country finally decided that Reeves and her party could be trusted with the public finances again.
Barely six months on from that landslide victory, however, the chancellor must surely be wondering what she let herself in for.
Every day seems to bring more gloomy economic news, with the past week alone seeing the cost of government borrowing hit a decades-long high – worse even than in the aftermath of Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-Budget.
The value of the pound – an indicator of the money markets’ confidence in the country – is falling, while inflation is going up and the economic growth Labour promised remains stubbornly elusive.
This is not what Reeves hoped for after she delivered her first Budget, which saw taxes increased by £40 billion to plug a £22 billion black hole Labour claims was left by the last government.
Amid the economic gloom, Reeves is this weekend in China trying to attract investment into the UK – a visit her critics said should be cancelled so the chancellor could be behind her desk at the Treasury instead.
When she does return to the UK at the start of next week, Reeves’ thoughts will turn to how she balances the books despite the economic headwinds.
The Office for Budget Responsibility will deliver its eagerly-anticipated verdict on the state of the economy in March, and few expect it to be anything other than more bad news for the chancellor.
Having told the CBI in November that she would not be putting up taxes or borrowing again, her only option is a further squeeze on departmental spending, which is bad news for cabinet ministers already struggling to find the savings demanded last year by Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury.
Former cabinet secretary Gus O’Donnell, a man who knows a thing or two about spending reviews, told LBC that the upcoming one will be “pretty brutal”.
“There are going to be lots of departments who are upset,” he said.
A senior Treasury source confirmed to HuffPost UK that more Whitehall spending cuts are coming.
“We need to have an iron grip on the public finances and demonstrate that we are serious about keeping them under control,” the source said.
“We are going to live within our means – we have got to have that iron grip.
“If you’re asking if the message from the Treasury is that we need to live within our means, then the answer is yes.”
Reeves is also putting the finishing touches to a major speech she will make later this month setting out how the government intends to achieve its number one goal of boosting economic growth.
“We need to go all out for growth,” the Treasury source said. “Within days of the Budget, Rachel’s message to the Treasury was we’ve now got to accelerate the work on getting growth.
“Her speech will set out the next phase of that work. The markets are looking for us to pull all the levers that need to be pulled to get growth going, and we’re going to do it.”
“We are going to live within our means – we have got to have that iron grip.”
Reeves – and Keir Starmer – desperately need the economic clouds to disperse if they are to start changing the public’s perception of the government.
Although Labour insiders insist there is “no chance” of the prime minister dumping his chancellor, it is clear that grumblings about her performance are growing louder.
Polling by Savanta, seen by HuffPost UK, shows that Reeves’ net favourability with the public is a miserable -20, making her less popular with voters than cabinet colleagues like Wes Streeting, Yvette Cooper and Angela Rayner.
Neatly demonstrating how their political fortunes are closely aligned, Starmer’s ratings are identical to the chancellor’s.
Among Labour voters, Reeves’ net favourability is +14, compared to Starmer’s +32 and Rayner’s +24.
Chris Hopkins, Savanta’s political director, said: “Rachel Reeves finds herself at a challenging political juncture. She inherited significant economic issues with no clear solution besides enacting unpopular, but potentially necessarily, economic policy decisions.
“She is bearing the brunt of public ire at the perceived slow, bumbling and tricky start to life in government for Labour.
“The difficulty now for Reeves is whether she retains the political capital to double down on Labour’s economic plans.
“Labour are undoubtedly playing the long game, banking on difficult decisions made now bearing fruit in time for re-election, but as the pressure on Reeves rises, so will the temptation to run a different course to save her own personal ratings.”
One cabinet colleague said the chancellor “has to change the public mood”, but admitted her options for doing so are limited.
“She’s trying to get a royal flush with a two, a seven and an eight,” he said. “She was dealt a truly awful hand by the Tories and it’s only getting more difficult.
“In order to fill the black hole, the government needs to spend a lot of money, but that’s inflationary and causes it’s own problems.
“I think she’s taken the least worst road to get to where she is, but it’s still a very difficult place to be. There’s no money, no easy ways of raising money and loads of bills to pay.
“I think most reasonable people realise that when you take over something that’s broken it takes a long time to turn it around, but you don’t get much time in politics these days.”
At the beginning of a vital 12 months, the chancellor and PM know that they will ultimately be judged by whether or not they keep their promise to repair and then grow the UK economy.
It may still be four years until the next election, but the clock is already ticking.