In these desperate times, everyone wants to find some money down the back of the sofa. Politicians are no exception. Taxpayer cash is difficult to generate – witness the growing disquiet on Conservative backbenches at the billions of pounds raised by chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s long-lasting freeze on income tax thresholds.
Until fairly recently, borrowing from international investors carried an ultra-low price tag, but since the Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng mini-budget debacle last September Treasury ministers have been unable to consider adding to the public debt as a low-cost exercise. Short-dated gilt yields are back up to the level of the Truss era, raising the cost of government borrowing.
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