PROPER CON TRICK

>> Chancellor accused of using smoke and mirrors >> Millions will still be out of after tax cut pocket

- JOHN STEVENS, DAVE BURKE and ASHLEY COWBURN

JEREMY Hunt has been accused of trying to pull a fast one as he announced tax cuts that will still leave millions of people worse off.

In a desperate bid to improve the Tories' grim poll ratings, the Chancellor promised a 2p cut to the rate of National Insurance.

But the UK is on course for its heaviest tax burden since the Second World War.

As he set out the Tory spending plans in the Autumn Statement yesterday, Mr Hunt said the economy has turned a corner".

Minutes later, independent watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility published official forecasts halving what it thinks economic growth will be next year.

Unemployment is set to be worse than previously thought and households will be clobbered by higher inflation for longer.

The OBR added people still face the largest fall in living standards since records began in the 1950s.