Andy Burnham ally scores John Healey’s Budget four out of 10 in damning verdict

On Wednesday, Mr Healey said his budget would provide Britain with “breathing space now, fresh hope for the future”.

“We know who we are. We know where we’re going. We can see the Britain we want to be. It’s a vision burned into every line of this budget statement,” he declared.

However, the Prime Minister’s former advisor did not share the Chancellor’s enthusiasm for the fiscal plans.

“John Healey plainly yesterday had sworn the Hippocratic Oath before he gave his speech,” Mr Haldane told the BBC.

“It was a do-no-harm Budget, and as best we can tell, most people shrugged: businesses, consumers, financial markets.

“And given its predecessors, maybe we should thank heavens for those small mercies.”

“I’d have liked more to have been shown when it comes to exercising fiscal discipline,” he said.

Rating the budget, Mr Haldane said it would: “Not be a 10 from Len”.

Continuing his Strictly Come Dancing references, the former Bank of England economist admitted he had to channel his inner Craig Revel Horwood to give it a low score.

Mr Haldane settled on a dammning rating of four for the Chancellor’s budget.

His verdict comes just days after he warned the Prime Minister must “take the knife” to public spending and cut taxes.

Mr Burnham’s former advisor said failure to do so would spark a crisis that could “crater” the economy.

Mr Haldane revealed that the economy was a “blind spot” for the Prime Minister, suggesting it could spell ruin for Downing Street.

He warned: “Keir (Starmer) lost the dressing room. Andy’s biggest risk is that he loses the dealing room.

“And then that’s an even more painful way to go, as Liz Truss would tell you.”

Mr Haldane claimed that the UK was “at or close to being taxed out” and “at or close to being maxed out in terms of borrowing”.

His warning over spending came as the Chancellor admitted there was no plan to reduce welfare spending.

“So it’s not correct to say that we’re going to bring this welfare bill down in this Parliament because we’ve not set a timetable for that,” Mr Healey told Channel 4.