The collapse in disposable income will be about as grim as you can imagine – so why is the government embracing it?

Let’s start with a tale of two charts. Or rather, one chart.

Be warned: it’s not a pretty chart. It shows how average household disposable income changed each year since 1955 and for the most part it’s a story of progress.

As the years have gone on, we have seen our disposable incomes rise in most years.

But here’s where it gets gritty, because that run is about to come to a crashing end. Back in March, the Office for Budget Responsibility produced this chart, and it showed the single worst year for disposable income changes since records began in the 1950s.

Back then, Rishi Sunak was chancellor and behind the scenes he was furious with the OBR. Why did they ruin his finely honed spring statement with their chart of misery?

Now roll forward to today. The OBR updated the chart for the autumn statement and the prognosis was even worse.

Now we are facing not just the worst year for household disposable income in modern history, but the two worst years, one after another. It…