Warning: some readers may find the content of this article disturbing.
Under Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the nation’s finances are flying out of control (Image: Getty)
Politicians of all stripes may lie, but the numbers don’t lie. The latest figures are in and they’re terrifying. Rachel Reeves has lost control of the nation’s finances. Despite hiking taxes to new highs, she still can’t balance the books because she can’t stop spending.
Reeves is the worst possible chancellor at the worst possible time. We needed someone prepared to confront the Labour Party, and the country, with hard truths. Instead, we got a woman playing as fast and loose with the nation’s purse as she once was with her own.
This is the woman who had her parliamentary credit card confiscated because she couldn’t control it. Who once claimed she was struggling to balance her household finances at the end of the month, at a time when her combined marital salary was pushing £250,000.
What she’s now doing to the nation’s finances is far worse. It wouldn’t matter how rich the UK was, or how many billionaires lined up begging to be taxed more. For Labour, it would never be enough. And it never will be.
Forget her nonsense about “fixing the foundations” and “restoring stability”. The numbers tell the real story about our supposed Iron Chancellor.
Rachel Reeves has lost control. She’s gone berserk with the nation’s credit card, blowing billions with no sign of stopping. That’s the only conclusion I can draw after last week’s horrendous borrowing figures.
Public sector net borrowing hit £83.8billion in the first five months of the financial year, with another £18billion added in August alone, far higher than expected. At this rate she’s on course to borrow more than £200billion this year.
That’s a staggering sum, up from previous predictions of £150billion. There’s no pandemic. We’re not fighting a war (at least, not yet). Yet we’re blowing through that money anyway.
Worse still, around £150billion of that borrowings will go on servicing the interest on Britain’s existing debt. And that bill may climb further if bond markets panic, driving gilt yields and borrowing costs still higher.
During the election, Reeves promised she would never play “fast and loose” with the public finances. Fast and loose doesn’t cover it. This is unhinged. The Treasury has lost control. You can see it on her face.
Reeves looks constantly on edge, caught between fighting back tears and forcing a manic smile. On a human level it’s sad, but this is what happens when people go broke.
When the numbers spiral beyond comprehension, the crisis stops being financial and starts becoming pathological.
And of course it is pathological for the Labour movement itself. They think every financial problem can be solved by spending more and handing the bill to the wealthy.
Their only big idea today is a wealth tax, which they claim could raise £10billion a year. But where will they find the other £190billion? They never say. They prefer not to think about it, just like Reeves.
Yet she has no choice. It’s her job to think about it, and it’s driving her to the edge. She tried to trim £5billion off the health and sickness benefits bill, but Labour’s backbenchers revolted and she was forced to backtrack.
That’s just a drop in the ocean compared to the £100billion a year the UK is on course to spend on welfare by the end of this Parliament.
There’s no way out of this under Labour. And frankly, the Tories were almost as bad. Nigel Farage‘s Reform UK prefers not to confront our financial plight either.
Nobody will, until the country suffers the inevitable shock when the money finally runs out. Which is likely to be on Rachel Reeves’s watch, unless Keir Starmer fires her first. Frankly, the PM would be doing her a favour. Being Chancellor can’t be good for her mental health.
While Reeves waits, she’ll keep tinkering with her Budget, knowing full well that the nation’s finances could blow up in her face at any moment.
