Labour loves to remind voters how Liz Truss 'crashed the economy', but Rachel Reeves is making the exact same mistake. She's asking the markets to lend the Government vast sums and they're telling her where to get off.
There is a "high chance" that Rachel Reeves will be forced to announce emergency spending cuts this spring, Barclay's Chief Economist has said, as borrowing costs surged again on Friday.
The OBR's damning Budget verdict has given the Tories ammunition for years, says Fraser Nelson. When it seemed politically expedient Labour pledged its devotion to the OBR. It's now facing the consequences.
Government borrowing costs surged to their highest level in nearly a year after the largest tax raising Budget in history as the OBR said that workers will shoulder 80% of the National Insurance rise.
Three charts show the devastating impact that Covid lockdowns had on U.K. public finances as the IFS think tank warns that neither Labour nor the Tories have any room for tax cuts or spending splurges.
According to figures published by the ONS, Sweden saw the second smallest increase in national debt out of all EU countries. The UK, by contrast, saw the fourth largest – only Spain, Greece and Italy did worse.
The Daily Mail has totted up the lockdown bill: £500 million a day in lost output, pubs and restaurants losing £1.7 billion a week, 15,000 shops never to reopen, NHS waiting list now at 4.6 million... it's a catastrophe.
