𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

If Britain was free of debt and balancing the books, we know what Burnham would do. Same as any Labour PM. Tax, borrow and spend. Unfortunately, we aren’t free of debt. We’re drowning in it, owing almost £3trillion. And we’re on course to borrow another £130billion or so this year. So what are Burnham and chancellor John Healey preparing to do? You guessed it. Tax, borrow and spend regardless.

Labour MPs demand it. They didn’t eject Keir Starmer because they thought he was taxing, borrowing and spending too little. Last week, Burnham faced 125 questions in Parliament. His answer to almost every spending request was the same. Spend more. And with every reply, Britain got poorer. The bond market was watching and UK gilt yields climbed to the highest level since 1998.

That may not sound a big deal, but it will cost us billions in extra interest. We already pay £110billion a year servicing our debts, more than the defence and education budgets combined. Now we’ll pay even more. By the time Burnham was done, the chancellor’s fiscal headroom had plunged from £26billion to less than £14billion. If the Iran war drags on and inflation climbs higher, it could vanish altogether.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research reckons we need £40billion of tax rises or spending cuts in the Budget. Healey is working on the tax hikes. We can forget the spending cuts.

City experts are urgently calling for Burnham to wake up as we sail into a perfect financial storm. So have two of the men he brought in to beef up his financial credibility. Former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane and Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill. Haldane has urged Healey not to tax, borrow or spend a penny more for the next three years. As if.

Lord O’Neill has skewered talk of introducing a wealth tax and hiking capital gains tax. He said this will spook businesses and will drive entrepreneurs. Neither man is backing Burnham today.

Last week, O’Neill went on the attack again, calling for Burnham to rein in the “excesses” of government expenditure and tackle “sacred cows”. O’Neill even called for the triple lock to be axed. Burnham is committed to it for the rest of this Parliament. Something else may have to go.

Burnham won’t listen. It doesn’t matter how many people scream at him to stop.

He won’t stop, and he can’t stop. Labour won’t let him. He knows any hint of spending cuts will drive the left into a frenzy, with dire consequences for his personal popularity and the Labour Party he was brought in to save.

But Britain is already dangerously exposed. Our borrowing costs are among the highest in the developed world. As inflation climbs everywhere, they will only get higher. Especially if we get a winter energy crisis. And Burnham keeps nudging us closer to the edge.

Burnham can blame the Tories all he likes, but that won’t solve anything. The crisis is brewing in real time, and on his watch.

If Burnham won’t cut, he’ll either have to tax more, which will destroy growth, or borrow more, which will bring the wrath of the bond market upon us. It will finally force us to slam on the brakes. But not before a 1970s-style fiscal crisis.

Tax, borrow, spend, repeat. Tory and Labour governments have been doing it for three decades. At some point, that cycle has to stop. Burnham must listen before it’s too late.