Rachel Reeves is facing warnings about a financial crisis today as markets batter Britain's borrowing costs.
Ministers are struggling to cool alarm after interest rates on UK gilts rose again this morning, having spiked to 27-year highs yesterday.
The grim moves have fuelled questions over how the Chancellor will service the country's debt mountain.
Ms Reeves' Tory predecessor Ken Clarke is among those raising concerns that a crunch is 'much nearer' than the government is admitting.
He suggested it is not impossible that Britain will be forced to go to the IMF for help - something that Callaghan's Labour government did during the Sterling crisis in 1976.
