The president of the British Chambers of Commerce has warned that financial markets suspect Andy Burnham is leading “a traditional tax and spend socialist government with better TikTok videos”.
Andy Haldane, the former Bank of England chief economist, said rising government borrowing costs meant the Prime Minister and Chancellor John Healey faced difficult choices ahead of next month’s Budget, including potential cuts to public spending.
Speaking to LBC, Haldane said: “The fiscal Achilles' heel of this government, thus far, has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”
He added: “Ultimately, it's only by taking actions that come with a political cost, that you convince financial markets that you are serious. Within financial markets, we've gone from the cautious optimism of the summer months to the studied scepticism of September.”
Haldane said: “The markets now suspect that this is a traditional tax and spend socialist government with better TikTok videos.”
He suggested action on welfare, the state pension triple lock, the NHS or wider public-sector productivity could save money and help bring borrowing costs down.