Germany and France are in crisis – is the next global financial crash brewing?

By Larry Elliott

Things are not quite going according to plan for Rachel Reeves. The economy has contracted for the past two months and inflation is proving hard to shift. The first Labour budget in more than 14 years received a frosty reception. But everything is relative; at least the chancellor had no trouble getting her measures through parliament, which is more than can be said for Emmanuel Macron in France. And if opposition MPs at Westminster were to call a vote of no confidence, Labour’s massive majority means it would be spared the defeat suffered by Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, earlier this week.