'Truth is we have just got a whole lot 9 poorer...

Tax hikes 'will last decades'

- Martyn Brown Deputy Political Editor

Respected think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the Government’s struggle to grow the economy over the past 12 years meant significantly higher tax bills for decades.

The comments by IFS director, Paul Johnson, will further enrage Tories angered by Jeremy Hunt’s economic plans.

Mr Johnson said the biggest drop in living standards would “hit everyone”, but warned “Middle England is set for a shock” as taxes are hiked while wages fall.

In a stark analysis, he said: “The truth is we just got a lot poorer.”

And he added that our “long, hard, unpleasant journey” has been worsened by a “series of economic own goals”.

Self-inflicted wounds to growth included Brexit, austerity-era cuts to education spending, the “large own goal” of former prime minister Liz Truss’s disastrous miniBudget and the general political chaos of recent months.