As the Chancellor Rachel Reeves gets to work on her second Budget – to be delivered on 26 November – red lights flash everywhere. Gilt yields are up again as markets lose faith in her ability to balance the books. Reeves or Darren Jones – whoever is really calling the shots – will spend the next few weeks fixated on those yields. The price they land at when the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) settles their Budget forecast could make or break the government.

I understand that the initial plan was to have a Budget much earlier, but that the decision was taken to put it off for as long as possible in the hope that yields come down a bit in that time. We may even hear calming words from the Treasury today aimed at achieving just that.

It’s not all on Reeves though. The Chancellor do

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