Tax, borrowing, the cost of borrowing, unemployment and inflation are all going up, while growth is going down. Yet in the face of this, Labour’s instinct is to tax more, spend more and centralise more, says Simon Clarke

When in a big hole, muddle the figures so nobody can understand them. That’s what Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies accused Rachel Reeves of doing at the Spending Review last week: “The Chancellor’s speech was full of numbers, few of them useful.”

But while Labour ministers insist their approach will deliver stability, growth and investment in public services, all the signs point to a dispiriting truth: they risk locking Britain into a low-growth, high-tax future.

And while the Chancellor attempted to blind us with science, one number did stand out: £200bn. That’s how much more the UK will now borrow over the course of this parliament compared to the last Conservative Budget in 2024 – and we will pay £80bn more in debt interest as........

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