Recess is over - so what's in store as MPs head back?

Good news. The House of Commons is back in session, and the coming weeks will provide ample opportunities for your parliamentarians to opine, shine, and, of course, whine for personal and party advantage, as well as for the betterment of the British people.

- SEAN O'GRADY

In a still-new parliament with a record turnover of members, all among them, from the new-ish prime minister to the new leader of the opposition, will have much to prove and still more to keep them busy...

What’s the highlight?

That might be too sparkling a word for it, but the most important set-piece occasion will be the Budget on Wednesday 30 October, which is unfortunately timed adjacent to Halloween. On the downside, Rachel Reeves will have to find further funds to plug the £22bn “black hole” in the public finances she says she discovered soon after taking office – something bitterly disputed by the (for now) shadow chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

There will be tax hikes all round, some further spending cuts (possibly obscured), changes to the fiscal rules to make life a little easier, and, possibly, some embarrassment if the projected revenues from taxing non-doms and private schools don’t look like materialising after all.