As Jeremy Hunt pores over his first budget this weekend, he is grappling with an almost impossible question. How do you sell something almost unsellable to voters and Tory MPs?
At a time when the nation is facing a cost of living crisis, the chancellor’s statement next week will probably be bad news for nearly everyone. Instead of the usual speculation about potential vote-winning “rabbits”, November 17 is expected to mark a return to austerity and take the tax burden to levels unprecedented in peacetime.
The limited “good news”, as one government source generously put it, will be public spending that survives the axe and tax rises that don’t happen.• Autumn statement 2022 predictions: a summary of the key points
The argument Rishi Sunak
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