Next two years will be ‘challenging’, says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt – as disposable incomes are set to fall to record lowest level

Published

3 years ago

November 18, 2022

admin

The UK’s economic outlook will be “challenging” for the next two years, Jeremy Hunt says.

The chancellor presented his autumn statement to parliament on Thursday, littered with stealth taxes and curbs on government spending amounting to £55bn in an attempt to plug the black hole in the public finances.

But the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned the disposable incomes of UK households would fall by 7.1% over the next two years – the lowest level since records began in 1956/7, and taking incomes down to 2013 levels.

Politics live: Tax burden reaches highest level since WWII

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Hunt said it was “a difficult time for everyone” but tax hikes and spending cuts are needed to get the economy “on an even keel”.

“Over the next two years it is going to be challenging,” he said.

“But I think people want a government that is taking difficult decisions, has a plan that will bring down inflation, stop those big rises in the cost of energy bills and the weekly shop, and at the same time is taking measures to get through this difficult period.”

The chancellor insisted that his autumn statement is a “very Conservative package” following criticism from some Tory MPs.

“The Office for Budgetary Responsibility said yesterday that what we’re doing is actually recession shallow, it’s saving jobs,” he said.

“But what I would say to my Conservative colleagues is there is nothing Conservative about spending money that you haven’t got, there is nothing Conservative about not tackling inflation, there is nothing Conservative about ducking difficult decisions that put the economy on track.

“And we’ve done all of those things and that is why this is a very Conservative package to make sure we sort out the economy.

“None of this is easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg accused the chancellor of taking the “easy option” in Thursday’s autumn statement rather than bearing down harder on public spending.

He said the country needed lower taxes to drive up growth.

Probed on how it can be fair that pensions will go up by inflation when public sector workers will not see pay increase alongside prices, Mr Hunt said the elderly do not have the ability to work more to improve their take home pay.

“Well, I think the truth is, first of all, pensioners have retired. They don’t have the ability to work more or work longer hours in the way that people of working age do,” the chancellor said.

“But I think it is wrong to say that only the poorest pensioners are feeling the squeeze at the moment.

“I think this is something that’s affecting everyone and I think it’s right.

“Having made that promise to pensioners in our manifesto that we would have this triple lock, I think this is exactly the kind of tough time that people want it to kick in.

“And so that’s why I think it’s the right thing to do.”

The chancellor added: “We’re not pretending that this isn’t going to be a difficult time for everyone. But what we have is a plan.”

In yesterday’s autumn statement, Mr Hunt announced economic policies which the government hopes will help to rebalance the nation’s finances after the economic turmoil which followed former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget.

These included:

• Income tax thresholds being frozen for two more years until April 2028

• Top level of income tax now being paid on earnings over £125,140 instead of £150,000

• Pensions triple lock will remain – with pensioners to see a 10.1% increase in weekly payments in line with inflation

• Benefits to also rise in line with inflation – by 10.1%

• Energy cap to rise from £3,000 a year to £2,500 a year beyond April

• UK minimum wage to rise from £9.50 to £10.42 an hour for those aged over 23

• Windfall tax on oil giants’ profits to rise from 25% to 35% and be extended by two years until March 2028

• Additional cost of living payments of £900 for those on benefits and £300 for pensioners

• Spending on public services in England to rise slower than planned

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

As a result of Mr Hunt’s announcements, the tax burden in the UK will also now be at its highest since the Second World War, and there are stark warnings about increased bills and higher unemployment as the recession takes hold – as well as predictions the economy will still shrink 1.4% in 2023.

But most of the difficult decisions on spending have been postponed until after the next general election, due in 2024.

Treasury analysis suggests around 55% of households will be worse off as a result of the measures.

Labour has blamed “12 weeks of Conservative chaos” and “12 years of Conservative economic failure” for the bleak outlook.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves accused the government of forcing the UK economy into a “doom loop where low growth leads to higher taxes, lower investments and squeezed wages, with the running down of public services”.

Ms Reeves told Sky News she is “really worried about what’s going to happen to people’s living standards next year from April” and said a Labour government would have done more “to alleviate some of that pressure on the ordinary working person”.

As Mr Hunt took part in the broadcast round Friday morning, economic think-tank the Resolution Foundation published analysis suggesting his autumn statement’s tax rises would deliver a 3.7% income hit to typical households.

The foundation said the statement had piled further pressure on the “squeezed middle” and that the focus on “stealthy” tax threshold freezes to raise revenue would extend far beyond high earners.

The think tank also found that the budget would reverse much of the government’s levelling up agenda.

“The £15 billion of cuts to capital investment announced yesterday will undo 80% of the remaining increases in public investment announced by previous chancellor Rishi Sunak, which underpinned the levelling-up agenda,” it said.

World

The untrained mercenaries being tricked into fighting Russia’s war in Ukraine

Published

2 hours ago

December 17, 2025

admin

The untrained mercenaries being tricked into fighting Russia's war in Ukraine

A South African man, with eyes darkened by sleepless nights, tells us his older brother was lured into fighting for Russia on the frontline in Ukraine’s raging Donbas region.

“To them, it’s a suicide mission because they have never been trained for the military. They don’t have military training – they don’t have military experience,” says Bongani, whose name we have changed for his safety.

In the hidden back garden of a modest hotel in KwaZulu-Natal province, he continues: “They don’t have experience of any war. They are just bodyguards who want to get a job and provide for their families. That’s all.”

Bongani says his brother travelled to Russia on a flight via Dubai after being told he would be receiving bodyguard training along with at least 16 other South African men. After signing a contract in Russian, their fate was sealed.

“The problems started when they were moved from Russia to Ukraine, and they asked them: ‘Guys – where are we going now because we are here for training?’

“And then the Russians said: ‘Training for what? We don’t know anything about training – what we know is that you’ve signed the contract. You are under our command now – under the Russian army.'”

How is this happening?

Sky News has seen harrowing SOS video messages from South African men who describe entrapment and deployment to the frontline in Ukraine.

In one video, a man in military fatigues details the moment they signed their contracts. He claims Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, encouraged them to sign away their lives.

“We refused to sign the contract forms because it was written in Russia, which we didn’t understand. We asked them for a translator – someone who can translate the language. They said there was no network,” he says in fluent English.

“That is when Duduzile came with a guy by the name of Khosa. She said we must sign the contract because it is the same thing they did. Duduzile said she is doing the same course we are doing, the same training, and that unfortunately she won’t be with us because she is training somewhere else.”

“Yes, we agreed. We did sign the forms because we trust the lady, Duduzile.”

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is accused of trafficking South African men – including eight of her own relatives – for mercenary recruitment by her half-sister Nkosazana Bonganini Zuma-Mncube, who has filed police charges against her.

She denies the allegations and says she was a victim of deception, misrepresentation, and manipulation.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) say they are currently investigating the charges. Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has resigned as a member of parliament and has not responded to our request for comment.

Five hours away in Johannesburg’s Gauteng province, we watched as another case of suspected mercenary recruitment played out in a South African magistrate’s court.

Five suspects were ushered out into a crowded courtroom in Kempton Park after being arrested on their way out of Johannesburg’s Oliver R Tambo airport following a tip-off to the police that they were allegedly travelling to Russia via the United Arab Emirates.

The line-up is sullen as the three young men on one end of the stand look down at their hands. The youngest is only 21 years old.

At the other end of the stand is a 39-year-old woman called Patricia Mantuala, who stands accused of recruiting them. The five suspects were eventually granted bail by the court after a postponed hearing.

Colonel Katlego Mogale, a spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the HAWKS, told Sky News and other journalists in a news conference that they are not ruling out the possibility that more suspects will be arrested.

Amid signs of a growing recruitment drive, the families of those who say they are trapped fighting for Russia in Ukraine are advocating for their loved ones to return home – against all odds.

“You are dealing with people who are well known in South Africa and in South Africa nobody’s safe and we may never know what’s going to happen next to us,” says Bongani.

“What’s going to happen to our family?”

World

Imran Khan’s sons ‘fear they may never see him again’ as former Pakistan PM ‘held in death cell’

Published

8 hours ago

December 16, 2025

admin

Imran Khan's sons 'fear they may never see him again' as former Pakistan PM 'held in death cell'

The sons of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan have said they fear they might never see their father again as he is being “psychologically tortured” in a “death cell”.

Speaking to Sky News’ The World with Yalda Hakim, Kasim and Sulaiman Khan said they had not spoken to their father, who has been in prison since August 2023, for months.

Kasim described the conditions the former Pakistani leader has been kept, saying: “He’s been in a solitary confinement cell for over two years where he’s had filthy water, he is around inmates who are dying of hepatitis, the conditions are disgusting and also he is completely isolated from any human contact.”

He continued: “It’s getting harder to see a route out at this point. We’re trying to have faith. But at the same time, right now, the conditions are getting worse.

“It’s very hard to see a way out… We’re now worried we might never see him again.”

Kasim said his father was being subjected to “psychological torture tactics” as even the prison guards weren’t allowed to communicate with the former Pakistani leader, who led the country between 2018 and 2022.

Sulaiman said his father’s cell, where he allegedly spends 23 hours a day, has been described as a “death cell”.

He said an army spokesperson announced on Friday that Imran Khan, who has in the past been shot three times, was now officially in full isolation.

He added that Imran Khan was being kept in “completely substandard conditions that don’t meet international law for any sort of prisoner”.

The brothers’ words echo what one of Khan’s sisters reported after being allowed to meet the former cricketer in prison at the start of the month.

Uzma Khanum said at the time that Khan was facing isolation and psychological strain in prison following weeks in which his family said access had been blocked.

The former leader was jailed after being convicted in a string of cases that he says were politically driven following his ousting in a 2022 parliamentary vote.

Before launching his political career, Imran Khan was best known as a star of international cricket and for leading Pakistan to Cricket World Cup victory in 1992.

Kasim said his father would “never take a deal and leave all of his other party members in jail to die and fester in these jails…

“Instead he stays in those conditions, happy to rot and it means that he can move towards his goal of ridding Pakistan of corruption, a goal that he has stated to us a million times.”

Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani government spokesperson, will be speaking to Yalda Hakim tonight on Sky News from 9pm.

World

Paris Saint-Germain ordered to pay Kylian Mbappe €60m French court rules

Published

8 hours ago

December 16, 2025

admin

Paris Saint-Germain ordered to pay Kylian Mbappe €60m French court rules

French football champions Paris Saint-Germain have been ordered to pay former player Kylian Mbappe 60 million euros (£52.6m) by a Paris court.

A Paris labour court found on Tuesday that Mbappe was due three months in unpaid wages, as well as an ethics bonus and a signing bonus, under his employment contract with PSG.

It was noted that the sums were recognised by the French Professional Football League (LFP) in September and October 2024, and that there was no evidence of an agreement showing that Mbappe had waived his entitlement to them.

Judges thus rejected the club’s argument that the 26-year-old French forward should forfeit unpaid wages entirely, but did dismiss his additional claims of concealed work, moral harassment and breach of the employer’s duty of safety.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Mbappe’s lawyer Frederique Cassereau said: “We are satisfied with the ruling. This is what you could expect when salaries went unpaid.”

In a statement, his legal team also said: “This judgment confirms that commitments entered into must be honoured. It restores a simple truth: even in the professional football industry, labour law applies to everyone.”

PSG ‘reserving right to appeal’

PSG said in a statement that it “takes note of the ruling handed down by the Paris labour court, which it will comply with, while reserving the right to appeal”.

The statement added: “Paris Saint-Germain has always acted in good faith and with integrity, and will continue to do so.

“The club is now looking to the future, built on unity and collective success, and wishes the player all the best for the remainder of his career.”

Now playing for Real Madrid, Mbappe had taken PSG to court over earnings he said were withheld for April, May and June 2024 – before he left the club for Spain on a free transfer.

Lawyers for the striker argued he was owed more than 260m euros (£227m), and that his fixed-term contract should be reclassified as a permanent one.

Judges on Tuesday did not view Mbappe’s contract with PSG as a permanent one, which limited the scale of possible compensation.

PSG argued that Mbappe had acted disloyally by concealing for nearly a year his intention not to renew his contract, and sought 440m euros (£385m) over damages and a “loss of opportunity” after he left on a free transfer.

In the last year of his contract, he was linked with a world record transfer to Saudi Arabian football club Al Hilal, which Sky Sports News reported at the time to be worth £259m.

PSG signed Mbappe on loan with a mandatory purchase option of 180m euros (£165.7m) from AS Monaco in 2017, making him the second-most expensive player and most expensive teenage footballer in history.

While playing for the Parisians, he won six league titles and scored 256 goals in all competitions, making him the club’s all-time top goal scorer.