Labour must prove it can be trusted on the economy

Labour's most pressing task is putting public finances on a sustainable footing. Far away from the noisy culture wars about race, flags and swans, in recent weeks bond markets have shown some more disturbing trends in terms of the interest rates the UK government must pay to raise the long-term money it needs to keep going.

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Without completing that task of “fixing the foundations”, as the PM often terms it, the government is hamstrung and, in extremis, its failure could generate the kind of severe fiscal crisis that will threaten the stability of the government, with huge ramifications for wider society, according to The Independent.

Global inflationary concerns have hampered most advanced economies in recent years, but the UK seems to be coming off worse than most. Virtually every political party during this conference season agrees that too much is having to be spent on debt interest — on the “national mortgage”, as some put it, much of it taken out during the pandemic — and all fear a debt-tax-debt “death spiral”. So minds in government circles are, rightly, focused on the chancellor's options for the Budget next month.