Cast out of government by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Rachel Reeves has left behind an economic agenda that his administration is now carrying forward. Her model rested on public investment, a rewrite of the fiscal rules to unlock an eventual £100bn in capital spending, and a transfer of tax powers and money to the regions - work that has become the centrepiece of John Healey's first budget as chancellor.

An investment-led model in office

Reeves's main theory of growth was investment, and in pursuit of it she raised employers' national insurance. To fund the strategy over the long term, her fiscal rules were changed to allow a multi-year commitment to an eventual £100bn in new capital spending.

The money is now beginning to reach its intended destinations, according to the report of her record:

• •NHS infrastructure
• •roads
• •housing
• •rail upgrades
• •energy and industrial investments

Devolution as the budget centrepiece

The regional half of the agenda grew out of a lecture in which Reeves argued that what most distinguishes Britain from its closest peers is the relative underperformance of major cities outside London. As MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, she said the north of England had "waited for far too long, for a government that matches warm words with concerted ambition".

Her answer was to "liberate our regions from stifling Whitehall orthodoxies", paired with a plan to begin giving regional leaders a share of national taxes previously allocated by central government. That devolution work now forms the centrepiece of Healey's budget, making the regional tax and investment agenda the most direct line from Reeves's time in office to the Burnham government's current plans.

The Harvard speech and the credibility test

Reeves's next step is a speech at Harvard on Monday, her first public intervention on her own record and on Britain's future, delayed until after Healey's first budget. The speech will examine how governments can meet the public's appetite for radicalism while maintaining credibility with financial markets.

She will use the platform to defend the trade-offs of her own chancellorship, arguing that the shift to an investment-led growth model "required sacrifices" that a Starmer-led government failed to get the public to back. The framing she will offer is her own: "The challenge is to make the politics and economics, those dual tests of credibility and radicalism, line up".

Despite having been removed from office by Burnham, she will give him "credit for his willingness to face reality head on".

Markets and the road ahead

An external verdict on the record has already begun to form. At Healey's first IMF outing in Bangkok, the fund's economists praised Reeves, saying the UK's deficit reduction plan "stands out" among G7 peers.

The payoff, if it comes, depends on political survival. If Burnham avoids an early election, his government may start to see the investment bear fruit in public and market confidence, in upgraded public services and in Britain's appeal for private investment.