Who would want to be Rachel Reeves this autumn?

Headlines about a sharp fall in the pound and rising borrowing costs will not be welcomed by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves.

Comparisons are already being drawn with the short-lived premiership of Liz Truss when a spike in the cost of public borrowing so undermined the government that both the chancellor and the prime minister were forced out of office within weeks of coming to power, writes Professor Iain Begg.

The UK is not unique in facing fiscal headwinds and the chancellor could even be allowed a little schadenfreude in observing developments in France, which has even higher public debt and is facing a period of severe political instability. But as a member of the euro area, France is able to borrow on much better terms than the UK, despite its spread increasing vis-à-vis the German bund, and can count on support from the European Central Bank. Few would want to be in Reeves’s shoes this autumn.