The verdict is in. The Gilt market has found the Chancellor Rachel Reeves guilty of reckless endangerment of the country’s finances. A large electoral majority led her to think the world would happily finance what she described in her Mais Lecture as the “smart and strategic state”.

The chancellor is caught in a credibility trap, where abiding by one promise made in the name of credibility undermines another. The government’s credibility relies on incredible promises that cannot be met.

The Chancellor has insisted that she has more in common with Margaret Thatcher than Liz Truss despite financial market turmoil.

Rachel Reeves is set to unveiled her first budget as chancellor today, which involved £40bn worth of tax rises to address a black whole in the nation’s finanecs. Reeves became the UK’s first female chancellor after Labour won the General Election in July 2024.

Rachel Reeves has been accused of lying to voters over a major policy put forward by Labour at the General Election. The party is ending the VAT exemption on private school fees in order to raise money for state education. But it has now been reported that billions of pounds raised from the tax will not be ring-fenced to improve state schools.

Reeves – and Keir Starmer – desperately need the economic clouds to disperse if they are to start changing the public’s perception of the government. Although Labour insiders insist there is “no chance” of the prime minister dumping his chancellor, it is clear that grumblings about her performance are growing louder.

The majority of Labour figures rallied around Reeves on Tuesday as she defended her plans against a backdrop of economic turbulence

Reeves’s worst week in office so far was marked by the UK struggling to keep the confidence of financial markets following a global bond sell-off. The investor revolt pushed up government borrowing costs amid concerns her current economic plan won’t deliver the growth to bring national debt under control, and will drive up already sticky inflation.

Rachel Reeves shrugged off Tory calls for her resignation as she faced MPs after a turbulent week, which saw volatility in the pound and the cost of Government borrowing soar

As ye sow, so shall ye reap. One reasonably reliable rule of economics is that markets will eventually always find you out. It’s taken just six short months for this to happen to Labour, with its fairytale promise to end austerity in public services without having to raise taxes on working people.

Kemi Badenoch attempted to put Labour on the back foot on the economy - only to have her party's dire 14-year record thrown back at her. Here The Mirror looks at some highlights

A rout in UK bonds has evoked memories of the market crisis during Liz Truss’s calamitous premiership and raised questions over Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ budget plans.