Jeremy Hunt confirmed that the UK was “now in recession” as he announced tax hikes and public spending cuts totalling £55bn in his Autumn Statement this week.
Revealing the government’s budget plans, the chancellor said the UK needed to give “the world confidence in our ability to pay our debts”. His plans leave Britain facing the highest level of taxation since the Second World War, as households nationwide feel the effects of the cost-of-living crisis and a record fall in living standards.
Hunt told the BBC this morning that his fiscal plans were necessary to “get through” the recession, “bring inflation down and grow the economy healthily when we get to the other side”.
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Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Autumn Statement was effectively “an invoice for the economic carnage the government has created”.
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