As the last Labour lot said: ‘There is no money. So how will Chancellor Rachel Reeves pay for it all?’

“DEAR Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money” read the infamous letter left by the last Labour government in a Treasury desk; “Kind regards and good luck!”

Outgoing minister Liam Byrne’s political career never recovered when the incoming Coalition leaked his note so that no one would be so daft as to ever admit such a thing again publicly.

But Jeremy Hunt’s hour-long Budget speech on Wednesday was just a very long-winded way of saying the exact same thing 14 years later.

In the unlikely event that the Tories are still in power next year — or Hunt is even still an MP in his marginal seat — it would be five very painful years to come.

As the Institute of Fiscal Studies said yesterday “actually implementing his plans would require cutting unprotected services — including councils, courts, further ­education colleges, prisons — at around half the pace that George Osborne did between 2010 and 2015.”

But these are spending plans currently backed by Labour, who are now in fact promising to cut public spending even further after Hunt’s raid on their non-dom policy left a £2billion black hole in Rachel Reeves’ plans.

Yesterday the Shadow Chancellor said “we will find that money”, without explaining from where.

As the IFS says, the “Government and Opposition are joining in a conspiracy of silence in not acknowledging the scale of the choices and trade-offs that will face us after the election.

They, and we, could be in for a rude awakening”. That’s something of an understatement. While the Tories know what horrors lie under the bonnet, I would go as far as to say Labour do not know what’s about to hit them.

And when they put away the champagne bottles and Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves cross the threshold of Downing Street, I expect that awakening to be rather polite — but no less brutal.

Firstly, a war on the European continent has left our already stretched military supplies in a terrifying state.

Growing conflict in the Middle East, a suspiciously menacing China and an out-of-control Iran leave the threat facing the UK the stuff of a new PM’s nightmares.

The security services need more cash, and our troops need more kit, more­ ­missiles, more drones and more bullets.

‘Shoddy state’

And after The Sun revealed last month the botched Trident test — and as former No10 aide Dominic Cummings tells the world — it sounds like our nuclear arsenal is in a fairly shoddy state too.

When they put away the champagne bottles and Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves cross the threshold of Downing Street, I expect that awakening to be rather polite — but no less brutal

As defence think-tank the RUSI says: “Everything else which is not part of the nuclear budget is going to be under severe pressure.

“The Government is going to have to make some unpleasant short-term decisions between different conventional equipment capabilities at a time when the Ukraine war is shining the spotlight on neglected capabilities in which our Armed Forces clearly need to invest more.”

MoD insiders say the £12billion or so extra needed every year to have the UK hit 2.5 per cent of GDP on Defence as pledged, will barely touch the sides.

But the next government will have to hugely increase defence spending and will be told that by officials on day one.

So how is Reeves going to pay for that?

Next in the in-tray from hell comes the massive cost of the infected blood scandal — the worst disaster in the history of the NHS that could see the compensation bill top £20billion — a huge sum for the new Chancellor to find.

And while Labour are paying lip service to getting down the benefits bill, the reaction to shadow DWP boss Liz Kendall from her own side when she suggested last week that some people need to work harder shows the uphill struggle the party will face with its own MPs.

She was called “shameful” and “dangerous” by her own side for daring to say it is not ideal that lots of people “live a life on benefits”. So how are they going to change course there?

Throw in their promise to reform the NHS — putting them on a collision course with unions and public ­sector devotees — and a new Labour government is going to have a rather torrid time from day one.

As the IFS says: “Whoever is Chancellor at the time of the next Spending Review — which the Chancellor confirmed will not take place until after the election — might wish they’d chosen a different line of work.”

Does anyone really credibly think that ­Labour can find an extra £40billion for all of this while sticking to so-called fiscal rules of not increasing borrowing — and also not put up taxes?

MPs are sceptical and, as Tory ministers quietly say behind the scenes, it’s probably not a bad time to be out of office and a good election to lose

MPs are sceptical and, as Tory ministers quietly say behind the scenes, it’s probably not a bad time to be out of office and a good election to lose.

Kind regards, and good luck!

LABOUR’S policy is to ban MPs from having second jobs so it was always a bit odd that Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, was able to moonlight for £200,000 on LBC radio.

But I hear that’s coming to an end – with Starmer’s enforcer Sue Gray calling time on his presenting days.

BEEB HIDES RUBBISH RESOLUTION

RELATIONS between the BBC and the Conservatives are at rock bottom.

No10 spends so long arguing with the Beeb, they’ve had to hire two full-time broadcast officers instead of the usual one.

And there was plenty of swearing yesterday after the BBC news led day two of its Budget coverage with comments from the left-wing Resolution Foundation.

But there was no time for Auntie to mention that its boss, Torsten Bell, was the genius behind Ed Miliband’s rubbish campaign to be PM in 2015, and even came up with the greatest comic political disaster ever: the Ed Stone, left.

Hours later the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility – who the Chancellor revealed on Wednesday had cocked up its forecasts YET AGAIN – appeared at the Foundation’s own press conference.

It was something of a home-coming for Richard Hughes, who naturally used to work there.