We really need Labour to get its act together

WE have a looming budget on November 26 when Chancellor Rachel Reeves needs to plug a £30-40 billion deficit, much of it of her own making and compounded by the u-turn forced on her proposed welfare reforms by left wingers, which wiped out £5 billion of savings and also spooked the markets and sent up borrowing rates.

- Julian Hill

Yes, there are also external factors in the budget deficit situation but to ignore the government's role in this is highly misleading.

The first year of the Labour government was mixed. Despite claiming growth in the economy to be her priority Rachel Reeves in her first budget killed that growth by hiking National Insurance on businesses, amongst other things, to fix a claimed £22 billion hole in the finances left by the Conservatives. Little progress has been made on other major issues too, including unsustainable levels of immigration, welfare spending, and adult economic inactivity; low productivity; strained/inefficient/ineffective services; etc.