We would be out of the financial doldrums if Jeremy Hunt had £100billion extra to play with in the Autumn Statement.

That is the equivalent of the Chancellor spending £1,500 on every one of us – the eye-watering amount the Tories have wasted since the last election. Analysis claims this crucial cash has been washed down the plughole in failed projects and general incompetence. And any claims the Tories had to be the party of sound economic management dribbled away with it.

Money down the drain includes £15bn on duff Covid PPE and £2.3bn on the parts of HS2 Rishi Sunak abandoned – white elephants which helped push the economy into the red. Yet this Government insists on throwing away more on gimmicks such as £140million for flights to Rwanda which never take off and expected inheritance tax cuts for the wealthy.
David Cameron leaves 10 Downing Street after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting in London (
Image:
Anadolu via Getty Images)

This is not a tax on death but on windfalls left to the living. A couple would need £1m in assets before it bites, which is why only four in 100 rich estates ever pay it.

In a desperate bid to rejig a clapped-out Government, Mr Sunak appointed David Cameron as unelected Foreign Secretary – the man who strangled Britain with austerity – because even the PM knows Tory MPs are not up to the job. As a last-ditch stand, Mr Sunak is now eyeing up a “stop the boats” snap election. We say, bring it on. It won’t stop the boats. But it will stop the Tories ruining our nation further.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (
Image:
Getty Images)

Give us a brek

A decent breakfast before starting the school day should be a basic human right for every child. Yet the cost-of-living crisis means many parents cannot afford it. While inflation is falling, food prices are still up more than 10%.

Now, Bake Off star Prue Leith is leading calls for all children on Universal Credit to be given free breakfasts. The £18million that would cost is a drop in the ocean of Government spending.

Not sending asylum seekers to Rwanda has already cost taxpayers seven times that. Jeremy Hunt’s priority on Wednesday should be to ensure every child begins a morning’s learning on a full stomach so they can become tomorrow’s breadwinners. Not to hand out tax cuts to today’s wealthy just to feed the appetite of Tory right-wingers.
Prue Leith is calling on the Government to give schoolchildren free breakfast (
Image:
ROKU/PLANET PHOTOS)

Plans for Nigel

The bitter ex-mistress of Brexiteer-in-chief Nigel Farage would like to pull the I’m a Celebrity “cockroach lever” on her former lover. And Trixy Sanderson tells us the former UKIP leader will most hate being bundled underground with bugs and snakes. Thanks for the tip, Trixy. Now we all know how to vote.