Britain is watching a party render itself unelectable for a generation. Good riddance | Polly Toynbee

As Truss and Kwarteng unleash economic chaos, Labour conference all feels a bit pre-1997 - though no one in the party will say that out loud

The markets will react as they will," said the chancellor in the House of Commons, as he launched the tax cuts that sank the pound and sent borrowing costs soaring. And so they did. As sterling plunged again, the Treasury reported he was sanguine", promising yet more tax cuts for the rich, this time to let them accumulate fatter, tax-free pensions. Liz Truss has arrived in office without any significant poll bounce - which makes her unique in polling history. YouGov's associate director, Patrick English, tells me to expect further plunging numbers. A panicky Treasury promise of a new fiscal event" in November sounds more of a threat than a promise.

Here ends the arrogance, the self-regard, the cultish obsession with economic fantasies that failed and failed again. Here dies the nonsensical Laffer curve, the theory that tax cuts for the rich yield more than they cost. This should render the Tories unelectable for a generation, because this crash is all their own.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist