Mail on Sunday: The Week Ahead

OFFICIAL figures due on Tuesday will give some clue as to whether Chancellor Alistair Darling is on course to meet the Government's tough rules on borrowing.

Supplementary quarterly figures for the public finances come after data last week showed high levels of borrowing in June. Darling is expected to announce at the end of the year whether the Treasury has met the rules, which state that the budget for day-to-day current spending must balance across the economic cycle.

By coincidence, Tuesday is the day the average taxpayer starts earning for themselves, having spent the previous 204 days paying for Government spending and regulation, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance.

Darling is expected to say the rules were met during the 1997-2007 cycle, but he will start the next cycle in a less healthy position.