Labour’s spending juggernaut is crushing the economy

There is always extra cash available for this Government’s favoured projects Daily Telegraph 20/12/25 Another £800m will be spent on re-joining the Erasmus scheme that allows students to study across Europe. Money has been found for the spiffy new livery for Great British Railways.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has even found some extra cash for vegan “fish free” supplements made from algae on the site of the former Grangemouth chemicals plant – which unfortunately couldn’t survive the crippling energy costs he imposed on it. With every week that passes, the Government embarks on yet more extravagant spending. There is just one catch. As yet another terrifying set of public borrowing figures made clear, Labour’s spending juggernaut is crushing the economy – and leaving it far weaker with every week that passes. The latest data on the public finances published on Friday made for sobering reading. According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK borrowed an extra £11.7bn in November. While that was slightly lower than the same month a year ago, it was also significantly more than forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility and indeed by most City economists. Between April and November, we borrowed an extra £132bn, which was £10bn more than the same period last year and the highest eight-month total on record with the exception of the pandemic. With every month that passes, the UK racks up more and more debt. The reason is simple. Spending is out of control. The state spent £83bn over the month of November – or £1,203 for every person in the country, or £2,441 for every employed person. That was a £1.3bn increase in overall spending compared to the same month last year – or £4.4bn over the year, with £2.6bn of that accounted for by welfare payments. We can all see where the money is going. Despite all the talk of a “black hole” inherited from the last government, there is always extra cash available for this government’s favoured projects. The Erasmus scheme is going to cost hundreds of millions while public sector salaries are now rising at 7.6pc a year, compared with less than 4pc for the hard-pressed private sector – and with 62,000 extra people added to the Government’s payroll last month alone. There is even money for Miliband’s madcap schemes. While, for the sake of politeness, none of us would wish to underestimate his skills as a venture capitalist, it is hard to feel confident that vegan food supplements will ever replace petrochemicals as a major industry or replace all the jobs lost at the old Grangemouth plant. public sector pay and all the virtue-signalling schemes the ministers roll out to keep the backbenchers and the trade unions happy. Every consumer – and certainly every small business – has started to work out that they will have to pay more next year and the year after that. That steadily destroys consumer and business confidence, investment dwindles away and entrepreneurs stop starting up new companies. It is a cycle of decline. There was nothing especially shocking about the latest borrowing data. What was sobering was the way that spending has gone up and up – and despite taxes hitting an all-time high, the Treasury still can’t balance the books. Sure, the Government can just about keep the show on the road and keep the gilts market quiet by raising taxes. But it has killed off any hope of growth. Even worse, with every week that passes the private sector economy gets hollowed out and it is left in an even more fragile state.