balancing the books

But others in the Labour movement hope for much more than just a “Treasury budget” driven by balancing the books.

A Labour source says that “if it is a Treasury Budget, a technocrat one that focuses more on anything else on balancing the books, then it would be a let down”.

Left-wingers blame the finance ministry's obsession with balancing the books and refusal to take on new debt.

Then in 2011 Mr Jones was accused of not balancing the books and suspended for six weeks.

It revealed council chiefs expect to be £5.2bn short of balancing the books by April 2026 even after making £2.5bn of planned cuts.