RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: There are horror stories coming out of the Treasury in advance of the Budget. But that’s not the most terrifyingly offensive part…

The term ‘businessman’ is offensive, according to another Wake Quango’s new guidelines.

Who is he now? Stonewall, the gay/trans rights mafia? The Civil Service working group’s latest directive on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? The disguised MGBGT+ wing of Scotland Yard’s fraud squad?

Truth be told, it could be any of these. They’ve been rewriting the English language ever since Harriet Harman’s hairy armpit brigade decided ‘manhole’ was a hate crime 40-odd years ago.

On a Star Trek-like quest for a crime where no crime has ever been committed before, the Wakerati search the dictionary for words to ban, many of which have to do with sex or gender.

Beam me up, Scotty.

But this time it’s not the Guardianista-dominated legal diversity industry that has decided the ‘businessman’ must go.

It is included in the official ‘gender-neutral language guide’ of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Paris-based team says the correct term should be ‘businessman’.

Generally speaking, you might think that none of this is more important than calling the female committee chair ‘chair’ as if she actually has four legs.

You might also think that with European economies, including the UK, in a debt-ridden death spiral, an organization set up to promote economic development might have something better to do.

But as freedom of expression advocate Toby Young says: ‘The OECD is typical of elite European institutions. ‘Instead of doing his job, which is to promote free trade and economic growth, he has fallen prey to radical progressive ideology and now thinks his role is to promote social justice.’

The Labor Party is also going along with all this nonsense. Just last week Surkeir was talking about ‘statesmen’ in the House of Commons. Give me strength.

In fact, when I first read the headline of this news, I assumed it was referring to our Government. They certainly give the impression that businessmen are an extremely aggressive breed.

Things are falling apart under Starmer and Rachel From Complaints. Every policy seems to be deliberately aimed at destroying business and squeezing every last penny out of those who create wealth.

National Insurance increases and other tax raids in the last Budget particularly disrupted the retail, hospitality and agriculture sectors. Companies across the economy stopped hiring and unemployment skyrocketed.

Millionaires and non-doms line up to catch the last train to Clarksville, Dubai, Milan and all points East and West. More than 16,000 people have moved abroad since the last Budget.

Marks and Spencer chief executive Stuart Machin said Labour’s National Insurance hike last year cost M&S ​​£60 million and led to ‘almost 100,000 job losses across the economy’.

The property market has crashed and there was a report yesterday that Labor plans to add £50,000 to the cost of building a new home, thanks to a £1bn stealth tax on the construction industry.

And judging by the horror stories coming out of the Treasury ahead of the upcoming November Budget, much worse is to come.

Alongside Ginge Rayner’s union-friendly employment reforms, we’re also preparing for increases in capital gains tax and property taxes, as well as cuts to retirement tax credits; All of which will hit the businessmen (and women) who are the backbone of the British economy.

Many of our successful entrepreneurs and investors will decide that the game is no longer worth the candle.

Tragically, there is no indication that Reeves or Starmer will heed the repeated warnings of our most prominent business leaders in the slightest.

When it comes to Labour’s war on wealth creators, it’s personal, not business.

Over the past few days the chairman of Marks & Spencer has added his own three pennies to this hunch. Stuart Machin said: ‘Retail has a big role to play. We are the engine of the daily economy; We create jobs, increase traffic to the High Street and ensure families have access to affordable, high-quality food, clothing and other essential goods.

‘Last year retail was hit by an alphabet soup of taxes and regulations. New packaging duties cost M&S ​​almost £40 million a year. A further £30m of the drinks deposit refund scheme needs to be established. Higher NICs have been disastrous, costing us an extra £60 million and leading to the loss of almost 100,000 jobs across the economy.

‘Retail is now facing £7bn of additional costs and our tax bill at M&S ​​has risen to around £650m. ‘When you add all this, from changes to inheritance tax, to the impact on farmers in our supply chain, you have a recipe for disaster.’

All this is added to the burden of having to pay unnecessarily sky-high energy bills as a result of eco-fanatic Ed Miliband’s unbalanced Net Zero campaign.

A few weeks ago I wrote about hotelier Rocco Forte moving his business to Milan. I thought about saying ‘Can the last millionaire to leave England please turn off the lights’ but thanks to Mr Ed the lights will be out long before then.

The latest leak shows that the Treasury is now targeting the travel industry with higher taxes, so there will be no escape for those on modest incomes, even on holiday.

While Labor treats business like a milk cow to feed its client base in the unions, a burgeoning, inefficient public sector and millions left without benefits, it will also deal a blow to the ‘working people’ it claims to defend with everything from fewer jobs to higher bills, plunging the country further into outright bankruptcy.

The truth is that Labor dislikes most working people any more than it likes rich businessmen.

That’s what I call offensive.