There are budgets that inspire confidence, that stir the spirits of hard-working Brits, and then there are budgets that leave one clutching the armrests, staring wide-eyed at the abyss of economic uncertainty.
And let me assure you, dear reader, the Labour Budget we’ve just witnessed is firmly in the latter category, a nightmare on Downing Street.
The markets have spoken. If this new breed of Labour—who preached stability and responsibility from every soapbox from Blackpool to Brighton—thought they could sprinkle fairy dust on our nation’s finances without a reckoning, today’s spike in gilt yields suggests otherwise.
The grim reality? A borrowing binge that has the bond markets recoiling, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill through higher mortgage rates and eye-watering debt interest payments. Let’s not sugarcoat this: Labour’s borrowing is like an out-of-control steam engine, barrelling down the tracks, and we are all helpless passengers on board.
Let’s not sugarcoat this: Labour’s borrowing is like an out-of-control steam engine, barrelling down the tracks, and we are all helpless passengers on board.
Now, if stability was the stated goal, I ask you, where is it? Where is the stability in a budget that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, brings us higher inflation, interest rates sticking around like unwelcome dinner guests, and, tragically, slower growth? Yes, slower growth. Reeves has delivered what she’s dubbed a “budget for growth” that the OBR insists will actually mean less growth! I can hardly fathom it. A budget for growth without the growth – it’s political alchemy gone terribly, terribly wrong.
And this is no ordinary blunder. For all the clamour over the Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget, we now find Labour performing a greater act of economic vandalism. Not only are gilt yields now soaring higher than they did during that “disastrous” autumn of ‘22, but Reeves has redefined debt calculations to give herself carte blanche to borrow to her heart’s content. It’s a conjuring trick that any conjurer worth his salt would tell you is just reckless folly.
Why is this? Because the bond market—the invisible hand that Labour doesn’t quite understand or perhaps pretends doesn’t exist—is not at all impressed by these fiscal acrobatics. If you thought you could rewrite the rules, tinker with debt definitions, and get away with it, think again. When we see interest rates creeping upwards, mortgages becoming dearer, and bond yields spiking, let’s remember who’s responsible. Rachel Reeves, for all her finger-pointing and claims that she’s here to “fix” the economy after the “chaos” of the Conservatives, has delivered the very chaos she promised to eliminate.
The irony is breathtaking. In her rush to accuse Truss and Kwarteng of “crashing the economy,” Rachel Reeves has veered perilously close to the same cliff herself—this time dragging millions of Britons with her. But there’s a critical difference here: Truss had her intentions set on genuine growth, freeing up enterprise and lifting the weight of tax from the backs of the British people. In contrast, Reeves, encumbered by her self-imposed shackles of Labour orthodoxy, has delivered a budget that discourages enterprise, weighs down our workers with an extra tax on National Insurance, and buries any hope for a prosperous tomorrow under a mountain of debt.
Let’s call this budget what it is: a nightmare for anyone who values stability, anyone who treasures growth, and indeed anyone who dares to hope for a brighter financial future for this country.
Let’s call this budget what it is: a nightmare for anyone who values stability, anyone who treasures growth, and indeed anyone who dares to hope for a brighter financial future for this country. If we preach stability, we must practice it. If we seek growth, we must not stymie it. And if we claim to champion the working people of this nation, we cannot, in the same breath, impose a tax regime that slashes wages, drives up inflation, and pushes interest rates higher.
Rachel Reeves has managed to make the spectre of Trussonomics look positively rosy by comparison. For all the talk of Labour’s new fiscal responsibility, what we’ve witnessed is a reckless, misguided, and ultimately damaging assault on British prosperity. And I say this not with relish but with deep regret—for the hardworking families, the young homeowners, the pensioners, and everyone who will bear the brunt of this misguided Labour experiment.
So let us watch closely, let us hold this government to account, and let us remember this painful lesson: when Labour borrows from the future, it is the taxpayer who ultimately pays the price. The markets know it, the people feel it, and I, for one, will not let them forget it.
By Claire Bullivant, Editor
Claire is the founder and editor of the Conservative Post and was a co-founder of the Conservative Democratic Organisation. Claire is now setting up www.GreatBritishPAC.com. Pre-register today.
