The PM’s popularity will slide even faster as the economy lurches towards recession and rightly so. He’s the man in charge.

Every day brings yet more bad news. This morning, we learned that more than 200,000 jobs will go over the next year, and that’s purely in the retail sector.

That grim forecast, from the Centre for Retail Research, is down to Labour’s £25billion hike to employer’s national insurance in the Budget, which will destroy already wafer thin profit margins.

This will inflict even more damage on our high streets than the pandemic.

And it’s only the start.

Labour killed growth the day it took power. In its first quarter to September 30, the economy went from going “gangbusters” to flatlining.

In the quarter to December 31, it will most likely shrink. By March 31, we’ll probably be in recession.

Labour killed UK stock market growth too. The benchmark FTSE 100 index grew 6.8% in the six months before the election on July 5. Since then, it’s fallen 0.65%.

And that’s at a time when the global markets boomed, with the US soaring 10%.

This leaves Starmer facing a stark choice. He can either admit he messed up and reverse course, or find a scapegoat.

My guess is he’ll choose the latter. There’s an obvious candidate.

Starmer can pin the blame on chancellor Rachel Reeves. Any why not? She’s made a right hash of things.

A couple of days ago, I drew up a list of needless mistakes that she’s made this year.

I thought there might be four or five but quickly came up with 20 before I had to stop due to lack of space.

Scrapping the Winter Fuel Payment, lying about that £22billion fiscal “black hole”, destroying confidence and crushing the economy with tax hikes were just for starters.

She’s the main reason the UK has stopped growing. And most of her tax-grabbing measures haven’t even come into force yet.

Next year will be worse.

Inflation will rise, jobs will go, people will be poorer and the deficit may widen.

Reeves won’t be able to borrow more. The bond markets have swallowed enough UK debt. We’re on a knife edge.

This will force Reeves to hike taxes again. At which point she’ll be even more toxic than Starmer.

Incoming US president Donald Trump will make life even harder for Reeves, as his proposed tariff wars will drive up prices across the world.

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Trump is no friend of Labour. Appointee Elon Musk loves to twist the knife into Starmer’s Britain, now claiming “very few” businesses want to invest here as Labour drives wealth creators away.

Next year could turn really ugly. To avoid turning into toxic sludge himself, Starmer will have to find someone to blame.

As Jeremy Corbyn learned, Starmer is happy to dump fellow party members when it’s in his political interests to do so.

Reeves is a close political ally. Ditching her will hurt him. But the alternative is to carry the can himself and he won’t want that.

It’ll be easier for a new chancellor to reverse the mistakes Reeves has made. Whoever it is, they’ll be busy.