HUNT'S BIG FREEZE AS TAX HIKED BY £24BN

30BN SPENDING CUTS BUT EXTRA HELP FOR HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS AND POOREST

- Nicholas Cecil Political Editor

JEREMY HUNT sent an icy chill through Britain today as he tried to fix a gaping black hole in its public finances with a wave of tax rises and spending cuts.

He froze a range of tax thresholds as part of moves to raise some £24 billion and scaled back the energy bills support package. At the same time he announced around £30 billion of spending cuts, with the worse of the squeeze potentially coming after the next general election.

However, the Chancellor offered more immediate support to help the most vulnerable in society get through the deepening cost-of-living crisis and some extra short-term funding for the NHS, schools and social care.

The dire state of the economy was laid bare by official figures predicting annual inflation at more than seven per cent next year, when the economy was due to shrink by 1.4 per cent and

the unemployment rate was set to rise from 3.6 per cent to 4.9 per cent in 2024. In an Autumn Statement billed as crucial for Britain’s economy and the Tories’ electoral prospects, Mr Hunt was expected to say: “With this plan for stability, growth and public services — we will face into the storm.”

The bitter medicine in the Autumn Statement aimed to tame sky-rocketing inflation, which reached 11.1 per cent in October, a 41-year high. The UK’s economy has been rocked by Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, the Covid pandemic, Brexit and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget.

Tax thresholds and the rich