Give councils a stake in housebuilding to tackle our chronic shortage of homes
“There’s a tough road ahead,” said Jeremy Hunt on Friday. The Chancellor was responding to official data showing the economy shrank 0.2pc between July and September.
Since then, surveys suggest GDP has dropped even more. The UK is most likely entering recession – two successive quarters of economic contraction. And 2022 was meant to be the year of the post-Covid bounce-back.
This Thursday’s Autumn Statement looks set to impose a slew of tax increases going way beyond the well-flagged corporation tax rise from 19pc to 25pc. “To achieve long-term sustainable growth, we need to grip inflation, balance the books and get debt falling – there is no other way,” said Hunt last week.
But with the economy entering a nose-dive amid a cost of living squeeze, is this the time to be putting taxes up sharply? Interest rates are rising and manufacturing output fell an eye-watering 2.3pc over the last quarter.