Britain’s got a Lib Dem-sized hole in its heart – and we’ll know it with the autumn statement | Edward Docx

Unfettered Osbornomics is what we'll get on 25 November. If we had a financially literate opposition rather than Corbyn's Labour, things might be different

There were two oppositions in the last parliament: Labour and the Liberal Democrats. And, this week more than ever, it is worth saying that only the latter made any difference to the real lives of real people. Why? Because they were in government. But thanks to their brutal contraction and the subsequent departure of Don Corbyn de la Mancha for his knight-errant's tour of windmills, we now have no effective opposition at all (unless you count the House of Lords). And this is about to matter in lots of painful ways to millions of people when the chancellor announces what cuts he plans to make in the spending review in his autumn statement on Wednesday.

Related: George Osborne agrees 24% spending cuts with ministers

Related: These children of Thatcher are free to cut, cut, cut - and they're loving every minute | Polly Toynbee

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