With the budget just days away, Rachel Reeves is facing yet another black hole in the public finances - after ditching plans to raise income tax, it’s been widely reported that the government will go for a “smorgasboard” of tax rises and spending cuts to plug the gap, but critics on the left and right say it won’t address the deeper structural rot in Britain’s economy. 

So on this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by two economists with radically different visions for how to turn the country around. 

James Meadway, host of the Macrodose podcast and former economic adviser to John McDonnell, argues inequality is choking growth and that only a major reset of wealth, investment and a green industrial strategy can revive the UK. 

Catherine McBride served on the last government’s Trade and Agricultural Commission and she thinks the real problem is over-regulation, high taxes and net-zero. 

And Channel 4 News’ economics correspondent Helia Ebrahimi also joined the pod to cut through the political noise - and test whether any of their ideas actually add up.