Chancellor John Healey needs to find £35 billion by 2030–31 if he is to keep his spending promises. Yet despite Treasury briefings hinting at a low-key fiscal event, the underlying numbers paint a picture of mounting structural pressures from defence to health to public sector pay. So what is he going to do?

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by TPA's William Yarwood and Jonathan Eida to unpack how we've got here and examine what options the Chancellor actually has on the table.

Britain's public finances are under growing strain, with debt close to twice the level seen during the 1976 fiscal crisis, a heavier interest burden, weaker productivity growth and mounting pressure from an ageing population. But how does today's position really compare with the crisis of the 1970s, and could Britain once again be forced to

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive John O'Connell and former TPA chairman Mike Denham, who has authored new research comparing Britain's current fiscal position with the circumstances that led to the 1976 IMF bailout.

They examine the growth of public debt, the rising cost of servicing it, Britain's increased exposure to international investors and refinancing risks, and why today's spending commitments may be harder to reduce than those of the 1970s. They also discuss what the lessons of 1976 mean for economic growth, taxation and the long-term sustainability of the public finances.

Read the full paper here:

Britain's welfare bill is set to climb above £400 billion by the end of the decade, while disability benefits linked to mental health have more than doubled in just five years. But what is driving the surge, and can the current system be sustained?

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by the TPA's William Yarwood and Shimeon Lee to discuss the growing cost of Britain's welfare state and new TaxPayers' Alliance research into Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments.

They examine the rise in working-age benefit claims, the sharp growth in PIP claims linked to mental health conditions, the parts of the country where dependency is most concentrated, and what these trends mean for taxpayers.

Inheritance tax is one of Britain's most unpopular taxes, and the political pressure to scrap it is now growing.

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by the TPA's William Yarwood and the Adam Smith Institute's Maxwell Marlow to make the case for abolishing inheritance tax, as the Conservatives explore plans to scrap the levy altogether.

They discuss why inheritance tax penalises saving, investment and families trying to pass on what they have built, whether abolition could boost growth, and how the lost revenue could be covered through spending restraint rather than higher taxes elsewhere.

Britain's government is spending eye-watering sums across an ever-growing state, but where is all that money actually going?

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by the TPA's William Yarwood and Shimeon Lee to discuss the TaxPayers' Alliance's latest Spending Factbook, which lays bare the scale of government spending and how taxpayers' money is being used across Whitehall and the wider public sector.

They examine which areas of government are consuming the most cash, how spending has changed over time, where the biggest pressures are coming from, and why successive governments have struggled to get the public finances under control.

Read the new factbook here

Britain's civil service has ballooned by a third in just a decade, leaving taxpayers funding more than half a million officials and a salary bill of over £22 billion.

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by the TPA's research director Darwin Friend and former TPA chairman Mike Denham to discuss new TaxPayers' Alliance research into the growth of the civil service, which reveals headcount has risen from 418,340 in 2016 to 557,825 in 2026.

They examine the explosion in senior officials and six-figure salaries, why Whitehall continues to expand despite repeated promises of reform, and whether shifting civil servants around the country really amounts to decentralisation.

Britain's official national debt is already heading towards £3 trillion, but the real burden facing taxpayers is far higher.

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by the TPA's William Yarwood and Anne Strickland to discuss new TaxPayers' Alliance research into the real national debt, which highlights the government's true liabilities at £11.7 trillion, or almost four times the size of the UK economy.

They examine why headline debt figures fail to capture the full scale of state pension promises, public-sector pensions, PFI commitments, and nuclear decommissioning costs. They also discuss how debt interest is swallowing ever more public money, why welfare spending is becoming impossible to ignore, and how political cowardice has left future taxpayers with an enormous bill.

Staff sickness and absence are costing councils millions, yet town halls keep demanding more money while too little attention is paid to lost working time and weak productivity.

Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by the TPA's William Yarwood and Shimeon Lee to discuss new TaxPayers' Alliance research into sickness absence across UK local authorities, revealing the cost to council budgets and the impact on frontline services.

They examine why absence rates vary so widely between councils, how mental health-related absence has become a growing pressure, and what high levels of staff sickness mean for residents already facing rising council tax bills. They also discuss the wider public sector sickness and productivity problem.