GET your tin hat on. Look out the Spam and crawl in the bunker. It's the Recession Budget tomorrow, and it going to change everything.

The Tories warn it will contain a tax bombshell. They're wrong. It's going to be a blitz, taking us deeper into debt for years.

And this won't be a political war. It's a war for our pensions, our savings, our futures-and it starts now.

Complex language will be used in the budget, but the proposition will be simple: "Tax cut now, pay nothing until 2012." Sounds alluring? Only if you intend to emigrate. Because those still here to pick up the pieces could face moves like 22.5% VAT.

Another option is to let inflation rip. That destroys the value of debt-but also destroys the savings people have.

Here's the truth. The government has run out of our money, and is REFUSING to tighten its belt-as the rest of us are doing.

Gordon Brown wants to make a virtue out of it, saying that his debt-fuelled splurge will somehow save the economy. As if.

We all know about paying off your Visa bill with Mastercard. No one can borrow their way out of debt.

But politicians never learn. The Recession Budget will probably mean Britain will end up borrowing £120,000,000,000 A YEAR.

This is twice as much as Winston Churchill needed to borrow after winning World War II-a loan we took 60 years to repay. Right enough, Gordo is posing as a wartime leader. He's certainly brought us the wartime debt. But without any sort of victory.

Once again it can be said: Never was so much owed by so many to so few-and for so pathetically little. It's just a disaster.

Even after having £100 billion raided from our pension funds and being taxed to the hilt, the nation is still bust. There are no world-class schools or hospitals that were promised. Just a bloated government, defiantly refusing to diet.

Tomorrow, we'll be told the government will need to borrow £300 million A DAY-from Arabs, Chinese or whoever has the cash. Perhaps the Queen can get some kind of Dubai sponsorship going. Today, Man City. Tomorrow, Britain. When she was having tea with Churchill in the old days, she could understand the need for debt. She's baffled now.

We all are. How did Britain stumble into this? On a visit last week, she asked the killer question: "Why did nobody notice?"

Because no one wanted to, ma'am. Everyone bought into this myth of a new era, where masses of debt is OK. Tories, Labour, pundits, bankers, economists, everyone wanted to believe that this borrowed money was real prosperity. Result: Britain is about to have the worst recession in Europe because we binged the most on debt.

Not America, Japan, Italy nor any major country has ever been saddled with more debt than British households are now. And tomorrow you'll hear the government say even more debt is the solution. It's not. It never, ever was.

The Conservatives have finally woken up, and David Cameron is trying a "tell the truth" strategy. It won't be pretty.

I think Cam is on the right side of the argument. But he'll need to make his case powerfully. He will be OPPOSING Brown's tax cuts, and the extra spending. He'll be appealing to the public's sense.

I believe he has a good chance. But he's up against a relaxed, confident PM at the top of his game. All the harder given George Osborne, his Shadow Chancellor, struggles to be heard.

Westminster is awash with speculation of an election next spring, and a new battle for Britain.

Maybe. But one thing's for sure-the battle for the contents of your wallet starts tomorrow.

NOW THAT SUPERMARKETS are selling petrol at 90p a litre, is it time to celebrate? Not if you're George Osborne. When it was 118p, he had a cunning plan: A stabiliser that would cut prices in the bad times, and jack it up in the good times. By the scenario he outlines, petrol would be 9p more expensive. No country in the world has this 'stabiliser'. I wonder why.

A FRESH PEACE OF TROUBLE

NOW that the bombs have gone, Sinn Fein has moved on to a new agenda: The destruction of grammar schools.

The former IRA frontmen are now running education in Stormont and will abolish the Eleven Plus.

Almost twice as many kids from poor backgrounds make it to university places in Northern Ireland than in England.

That's because they can go free of charge to excellent schools. As they once could all over Britain.

A survey which was commissioned by Martin McGuinness showed that two-thirds of parents wanted to keep the system.

But it was chopped, for ideological reasons. Many parents will rue the day devolved government was restored.

NELSON'S GOLLUM

BORIS Johnson's proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants in London is wrong.

It would make the city a magnet for people smuggled in trucks, hoping for another "amnesty". Even talking about one encourages the cycle of inhumanity.

CARRY ON JAMES

WELFARE reform is just about the toughest job in government and work secretary James Purnell is already under attack.

From tomorrow, lone parents with children aged 12 risk losing benefits if they're not seeking work.

Predictably, he's being sniped at-by the government's own welfare advisers saying it's too cruel.

Even in a downturn, we can't afford to have communities blighted by mass dependency.

Tony Blair fell at the first hurdle of welfare reform. It's vital that Purnell holds his course.

SECURE THE CORE

I HAVE nothing but contempt for the BNP, but no one should lose their job for being a member. They are a disgusting, rabble-rousing but entirely legal party no one should be forbidden from joining.

Hazel Blears, our pint-sized but punchy Communities Secretary, is right to say "shouting 'Nazi' isn't the answer". I've met several BNP members and I'd say not one is racist. They feel forgotten, and want to lodge a protest. So MPs should drop their obsession with marginal seats and look after their core vote. Or someone else will.

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