Chancellor John Healey has just delivered his first Budget of the Andy Burnham premiership – but has he done enough to turn the economy around?

In this special live edition of Reality Check, economics editor Michael Simmons is joined by deputy political editor James Heale, former Treasury adviser – and Managing Director of Forefront Advisors – James Nation and pollster Scarlett Maguire – founder of Merlin Strategy, to unpack the Budget. From £100 energy payments and downgraded growth forecasts to what this means for Britain’s banks – is the Chancellor offering households genuine 'breathing space'?

Plus: has this first Burnham-Healey Budget stoked the flames, or dampened expectations, of an early general election?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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Andy Burnham’s first Budget as Prime Minister is approaching – but higher borrowing costs have already made the sums more difficult. Former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane joins Michael Simmons to warn that Britain has little room left to borrow more.

For this episode of Reality Check, Andy tells Michael what could be in next week’s Budget, why devolution alone is not a growth strategy and why he appears to have praised Kemi Badenoch’s economic policies this week. Plus: they discuss the Bank of England’s record on inflation – with Haldane arguing the Bank has not 'learnt its lesson’. What would he have done differently?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Henry Lloyd.

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For this special edition of Reality Check, economics editor Michael Simmons hosts a panel from Conservative Party conference on Britain’s growing NEETs crisis: the hundreds of thousands of young people not in education, employment or training. He is joined by shadow education secretary Laura Trott, the CBI’s Megan Bulford, Spectator commissioning editor Lara Brown and the CPS's Daniel Herring.

Why are so many young people struggling to enter the labour market, and is the problem education, welfare, the cost of hiring or something deeper? The panel debate the value of university compared with apprenticeships, whether tax and employment regulation are shutting younger workers out, and whether Britain’s welfare system is making it too easy for young people to fall out of work altogether. Plus: are rising anxiety and poor mental health driving the crisis or are they symptoms of a labour market that is failing the young?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

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Will the next debt crisis arrive as a sudden market rout – or is Britain already in the foothills of a slower one? Bond markets are back in the headlines, with every move in gilt yields read as a verdict on Westminster.

Michael Simmons speaks to the editor of FT Alphaville Robin Wigglesworth, author of A Fabulous Debt, about where bonds came from, who the 'bond vigilantes' really are, whether Liz Truss has a point about the Bank of England and why Britain's index-linked gilts have become so expensive.

This episode is brought to you by Artemis Fund Managers, for more information on our fund range please click here https://www.artemisfunds.com/

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Henry Lloyd

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Michael Simmons is joined live at Labour conference by TUC general secretary Paul Nowak to discuss the state of Britain’s labour market. Are higher wages and stronger employment rights making it harder to hire, or are taxpayers subsidising too many low-paid, insecure jobs? They also discuss energy costs, social care, taxing wealth and banks, and Labour’s biggest mistakes in government.

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What is fiscal ‘headroom’ – and why does it matter? Michael Simmons explains how Britain’s fiscal rules really work, why changes in borrowing costs can wipe billions off the Chancellor’s buffer, and why losing headroom does not automatically mean another round of tax rises.

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Some whistleblowers from the AI industry claim there is a more than 10% chance that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity within a few years. A group of mostly Labour MPs has written to Andy Burnham calling for action on existential AI risk, while conceding there is little the British government can do about it alone.

Michael Simmons speaks to John Power about the incentives behind the warnings, whether AI can realistically be regulated and why more mundane harms, from AI-written complaints flooding bodies such as IPSO to hackers using chatbots, may deserve more attention. Are the doom-mongers sounding a genuine alarm – or selling the most powerful product ever built?

This episode is brought to you by Artemis Fund Managers, for more information on our fund range please click here https://www.artemisfunds.com/

Produced by Henry Lloyd

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