Google search activity shows Andy Burnham has not put any upward pressure on borrowing costs, says Prof Costas Milas

“Believe Westminster, and the bond vigilantes are the ever-present, always hovering threat to political stability,” writes Aditya Chakrabortty (It’s not the bond markets Andy Burnham should be afraid of. It’s his own MPs, 25 June).

Indeed, there is unnecessary scaremongering regarding how bond vigilantes are reacting or will react to Andy Burnham’s economic policies. It all boils down to the Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes, who noted 2,400 years ago that a state’s reputation is key to driving down the cost of borrowing and that therefore we should “maintain our character of being trustworthy” in all events. In practice, however, there is no evidence that Burnham is agitating markets.