Next two years will be ‘challenging’, says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt – as disposable incomes are set to fall to record lowest level
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.
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Hunt questioned over autumn statement
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.”
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’12 weeks of Conservative chaos’ – Rachel Reeves
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
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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.
Read more: Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement had all the hallmarks of a Labour budget
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”.
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What does the autumn statement mean?
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.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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