Labour's facing in-tray from hell if it wins - can party really find 40bn without raising taxes

HARRY COLE | As the last Labour lot said: ‘There is no money. So how will Chancellor Rachel Reeves pay for it all?’ Does anyone really credibly think that ­Labour can find an extra £40billion while sticking to so-called fiscal rules of not increasing borrowing — and also not put up taxes? “DEAR Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money” read the infamous letter left by the last Labour government in a Treasury desk; “Kind regards and good luck!” Outgoing minister Liam Byrne’s political career never recovered when the incoming Coalition leaked his note so that no one would be so daft as to ever admit such a thing again publicly. But Jeremy Hunt’s hour-long Budget speech on Wednesday was just a very long-winded way of saying the exact same thing 14 years later. In the unlikely event that the Tories are still in power next year — or Hunt is even still an MP in his marginal seat — it would be five very painful years to come. As the Institute of Fiscal Studies