Jeremy Hunt unveils £55bn fiscal squeeze as UK economic outlook darkens

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : Much of the fiscal consolidation, including "stealth" rises in taxes and a big squeeze on public spending, is scheduled for the years after an expected 2024 general election.
54% : Hunt delighted Tory MPs by finding money to soften the blow of rising inflation for the health and social care system, providing an extra £5bn a year, and a further £3bn extra for schools for the next two financial years.
49% : Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor, said on Wednesday that Brexit had contributed to the UK's economic weakness, although Hunt and Rishi Sunak, prime minister, have downplayed its significance.
48% : Hunt insisted that his tax-raising measures were fair: they included a cut in the threshold for the 45 per cent top rate of tax from £150,000 to £125,000; the burden of dividend taxes and capital gains tax will also rise.
47% : But one of the biggest increases in taxation -- freezing national insurance thresholds for businesses -- will take effect from April 2023.
47% : But his statement was a recognition that Britain's dismal recent economic performance -- hobbled by the 2008 crash, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war and Brexit -- meant the country was living beyond its means.
45% : Hunt said public spending would rise by only 1 per cent in real terms in the next parliament and capital spending would be frozen in cash terms, raising £21bn and £14bn respectively -- the majority of the fiscal squeeze.

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