Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will address the House of Commons to make his autumn statement today (Thursday November 17).
Tax rises for everyone in the UK and cuts to public spending are expected to be announced after Mr Hunt warned people would need to make 'sacrifices' to help fix the UK economy. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the budget will also detail a clear plan to "grip" inflation.
He said inflation was the “enemy we need to face down” but insisted the decisions in today's autumn statement would be “based on fairness and " based on compassion”. It comes as UK inflation soared to a 41-year high of 11.1% last month, with rocketing energy and food prices intensifying the cost of living crisis.
Read more: Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Budget: What we know and announcements to look for
October’s rate of Consumer Prices Index inflation was worse than expected, hitting the highest rate since October 1981 and up from 10.1% in September. Most economists had been expecting a rise to 10.7%. Meanwhile officials have warned that Britain could face its longest-ever recession which would be worsened by skyrocketing inflation.
While attending the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday (November 16), Mr Sunak attributed Britain's and the world's declining economy to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He highlighted that there were global problems but "we need to take decisive action at home to get our borrowing and debt on a sustainable trajectory".
He added: "We will do that because that will help us tackle inflation, it will help us cut the cost of things, it will limit the increase in mortgage rates. Once we have that stable foundation, which the Chancellor will provide tomorrow, I am confident we can move forward as a country and we can look forward to a brighter future and build on that foundation to provide jobs and opportunity and prosperity around the country.
“But we need to get a grip on inflation first, we need to have that strong foundation.”
Speaking about what the public can expect from the autumn statement, Mr Sunak added: "I am confident that when people see the set of decisions in the round, when the Chancellor has delivered his statement, they will see that we have strived incredibly hard to deliver fairness, to deliver compassion and to put the UK on a positive economic trajectory."
The autumn budget is expected to take place at 11.30am.
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