John Healey hit with devastating resignation days before Budget as advisor warns of ‘Liz Truss-style crisis’

The double blow comes as the Chancellor prepares to announce his economic plans for the nation on Wednesday.

Speculation is rife over what measures Mr Helaey will outline, including fears of new pension levies and a hike in the capital gains tax.

Alex Depledge, who joined the Treasury in June 2025 to advise on entrepreneurship, will now step down on Thursday, issuing a dire warning about Labour’s lack of support for innovative businesses.

“We are literally on the precipice of the biggest technological wave of innovation with AI since the invention of the steam train. We are in grave danger of not having a seat at the table,” she told The Times.

Ms Depledge cautioned the UK had just 18 months to rectify this stance or risk being left behind forever.

To that end, the former advisor argued ministers were treating businesses as “a bit of a sideshow”.

She argued treating entrepreneurship as “a good news bonus on the margins of economic policy” was hampering British businesses.

“It puts a cap on our ambition, and it erodes confidence at every level from investors and founders, from the media discourse, right through to workers,” Ms Depledge commented.

The outgoing advisor stated an outdated ministerial obsession with traditional manufacturing over technology and scale-up companies hampered the Treasury.

“When I first turned up at the Treasury, it was like organ rejection,” she explained, adding officials were sceptical of outside business experts being parachuted in.

The top advisor kept her position at the Exchequer despite former Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s departure, but revealed she had been left frustrated dealing with the new No11 occupant.

“With John Healey and Johnny Reynolds, I had to relitigate all the arguments I had already won and win them again,” Ms Depledge said, adding she had “barely any face time” with the new Chancellor.

Adding further pressure ahead of the budget, Mr Haldane, who advised Mr Burnham during his years as Greater Manchester mayor, insisted the Prime Minister must “take the knife” to public spending and cut taxes.

He said failure to do so would spark a crisis that could “crater” the economy.

The former Bank of England official revealed the economy was a “blind spot” for Mr Burnham, 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.”

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

He predicted Wednesday’s statement would amount to a “mañana budget” that postponed hard decisions and “doesn’t speak to the urgency of now”.

“How do you go bankrupt? First slowly, then very quickly,” Mr Haldane fumed, channelling writer Ernest Hemingway.

Mr Haldane pointed to the fiscal crises that engulfed Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain as cautionary examples.

He also urged the Government to “avoid that like the plague.”

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