Holding tax and national insurance allowances as they are is going to increase tax by over £400 for the average household next year. Add in £600 or more extra on fuel bills and everyone paying tax might be £1,000 worse off before we hear anything else from Hunt today.
Then there are the mortgage and rent rises that for many will be much bigger than these sums and could come to many thousands a year because of unnecessary interest rate rises, which Hunt is permitting. The outlook for 2023 that Hunt will be delivering is grim, by his choice.
On top of that, the Bank of England thinks recession will push up unemployment by at least a million people, and I suspect it could be more. Many small businesses (and larger ones too) might fail, alongside lots of public services because they will not be able to pay their bills.
That's exactly what all us sensible folk were warning would happen if Britain left the EU - I thought about a million more unemployed! Not only that but the number of small businesses that are closing down is accelerating at an alarming rate. Of course the rise in energy prices will exacerbate that trend.
