Chris Mason
Political editor

The economy is flatlining and, on average as individuals, we
are feeling poorer.

That is what this morning’s numbers from the Office for
National Statistics tell us.

The economy grew by a smidgen – 0.1% – in the last three
months of last year, having not grown at all in the three months before that.

But that is the overall figure.

What about for us as individuals, on average – if you like,
our own economy?

What is known as “real GDP per head” – what the ONS says
amounts to “the volume of goods and services available to the average person” fell last year, by 0.1% in the last quarter and also by 0.1% across the year
as a whole.

In other words, living standards, on average, fell.

I reckon there is a fair chance as you’re reading this you
might be shouting “tell me something I don’t know”.

Ministers are acutely aware that sentiment – how we feel
about our living standards and prices – matters just as much as numbers in a
spreadsheet and that sentiment is just as flat.

The economy is wheezy, laggard and limping. The central mission of the government is to do something
about it, and so far it is failing.

Critics say its actions – those tax hikes in the Budget –
have made things worse. Ministers say its Budget was necessary to right the ship.

What matters now is whether a combination of factors –
national and international, government driven and private sector fuelled – can
shift things and do so relatively quickly.

That will matter to each of us as individuals, to the
communities around us, and to the popularity or otherwise of the government.

It is the central dynamic, the controlling thought, that will
shape much of the domestic political narrative in the coming years.