Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who took office just three weeks ago, has vowed to fix the economic havoc created by his short-lived predecessor Liz Truss.
LONDON - Britain will on Thursday hike taxes and slash public spending in a government budget signalling a return to austerity despite millions suffering a cost-of-living crisis in an economy facing recession.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Hunt is expected to unveil fiscal consolidation totalling between £50 billion and £60 billion , media reports suggest."We're all going to be paying a bit more tax, I'm afraid," Hunt told UK media over the weekend, likening himself to the penny-pinching miser Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' festive favourite "A Christmas Carol".
The Bank of England has said the UK economy would also contract in the current final quarter, meaning the economy was in a recession which it warned could last until mid-2024. She then fired her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng and replaced him with Hunt, who set about reversing the much-criticised budget and curtailed a costly freeze in domestic fuel bills.Markets have since regained an even keel after Sunak took the helm and political turmoil subsided, but retail lenders' mortgage rates remain elevated.
"I would really want people to be reassured that ... all the decisions we make will have fairness and compassion at their heart." The bank's key rate has rocketed from 0.1% to 3.0% in under one year, in turn ramping up home loan repayments and worsening the cost-of-living crisis.Britain's main opposition Labour party has slammed Sunak, arguing that the second wave of austerity is not the answer.
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