Ian Dale

And the problem they've got is that the financial markets are already in a state of flux and our borrowing levels, the bond yields are higher.

at the moment than they were when Liz Truss' mini-budget happened.

Now, if they get the impression that there's going to be political instability over the next few months, which inevitably there will be, those bond markets are going to go crackers, which means that the cost of government borrowing goes up, it means that the cost of borrowing for individuals with mortgages

that goes up, inflation goes up, and any growth agenda is out of the window.

So this is a very, very difficult time.

Yes, I think that is partly what's going on.

And it is very possible that Labour do that.

I mean, Labour is, in theory, a left of centre party.

And two of the main candidates for the succession, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham, although he's not an MP at the moment, so that's another fly in the ointment.

If either of them took over, I think most people expect Labour

a more left-wing economic policy.

Ed Miliband, who led the Labour Party for five years between 2010 and 2015, he is seen as the kingmaker and he wants to be Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Well, he will be a much more left-wing Chancellor of the Exchequer than Rachel Rees has been.

I think it all depends on the timing.

Andy Burnham has a real problem now because even if today a Manchester MP or an MP in the North West decided to resign their seat to allow him to then stand, that would be the mother of all by-election campaigns because Reform UK are on the march in the North West and they would do everything they could to beat Andy Burnham and they might well succeed.

But a by-election wouldn't be held until, say, the middle of June.

So by that time, nominations could have closed, and Andy Burnham's campaign could have been scuppered right from the beginning.

Now, I suspect they will find a way around this, but this is not certain.

I'm not an expert on the Labour Party rulebook, and rules can be bent, and the Labour Party have shown that they've done that in the past.

So who knows?