In the post-Brexit vote period house prices have risen 0.7% month-on-month in September (vs -1.2% in August) and were up 4.0% year-on-year (vs +4.1% in August), according to real-estate website Rightmove. This contrasts with the 18% drop predicted by the Treasury when George Osborne was Chancellor. That figure was clearly calculated in the same way he worked out the deficit would be cleared by 2015, HS2 will be economically viable and the Hinkley Power station is good value for money. They are all figures pulled out of his arse nowhere…

Incidentally, the big businesses funding George’s Nothern Powerhouse Partnership pressure group, do they by any chance have a “sod-the-taxpayers there’s gold in them there subsidies” stake in his plans? Of course they do…