Twelve billion pounds a month, £3 billion a week, or £420 million a day. If we divide the latest estimate of the size of the ‘black hole’ in the public finances facing Chancellor John Healey by the time he has been in office, the shortfall is starting to grow at an alarming rate. It is very clear that there is no easy way out of the mess he has inherited from his predecessor Rachel Reeves. All Labour Chancellors seem run out of money eventually, but Healey appears to be getting there in record time. 

With only a couple of weeks left until Healey’s first Budget, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has nothing but bad news for the Chancellor. Higher than expected inflation means the cost of welfare payments is rising rapidly. Meanwhile, a sharp rise in the cost of........

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