We are in a deep hole financially as a country.

 When a previous Labour chancellor Denis Healey (1974/1979) asked about the financial hole the country was in he - adroitly replied “when in a hole, stop digging”. This was on 2 June 1973. We are in a far deeper hole today, than we were back then. Interestingly we have today another John Healey, as chancellor. Will he adopt a similar attitude. The budget is on Wednesday 28 October. The first thing would be to cancel the, so called - triple lock for the - state pension. That would allow immediately, if introduced in April 2027 an extra £12 billion a year and over a parliamentary period of 5 year that would be +60 billion. And of course that would be more as the state pension is adjusted by inflation each year. So it could be as much as between £60 and £70 billion. That would thereby create - headroom for the chancellor John Healey. I will be writing to him today supporting the idea.