All the focus around Osborne’s latest Budget announcement was on the dire forecasts for the state of the UK economy, signalling that growth is slowing and years of austerity lie ahead. Rather than committing Labour to a clear anti-austerity programme of socialist policies, however, McDonnell is pledging to balance the books.

The world’s stock markets have fallen by over 10% in a matter of weeks. Some markets have not seen such falls since 1929. The Royal Bank of Scotland, Rob Sewell – editor of Socialist Appeal – reports, have warned that 2016 will be a “cataclysmic year”.

George Osborne, the Tory chancellor, who only six weeks ago was boasting about the strength of the British economy, has now had to issue a bleak warning for the coming year. A culmination of weakening world growth, plummeting oil prices, and a sharp slowdown in China, amongst other things, has blown Osborne’s economic predictions out of the water.