THREATS of an investment strike by big business must not be allowed to hold the government hostage, a leading left MP warned yesterday.

Jon Trickett was responding to reports that global finance is not buying British government debt because of the parlous state of the economy.

He said: “Labour should not be a prisoner of fiscal orthodoxy. 

“Schools and hospitals must not be held hostage to a capitalist strike.”

There are reports that rising borrowing costs will reduce Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ room for manoeuvre, meaning she may be forced to resort to further tax rises of public spending cuts as a result.

One City speculator was quoted as saying that “you’ve probably got a bit of a buyers’ strike going on at the moment” in the Financial Times.