Rishi Sunak will give his spring statement on Wednesday on the second anniversary of the initial Covid lockdown, with the economy still reeling from the effects of the pandemic and facing fresh headwinds from war in Ukraine.
In the two years since the government first ordered people to stay indoors to guard against soaring infections, the country has been through huge economic changes. Initial turmoil and uncertainty eventually gave way to a gradual recovery, but now UK households face a worsening cost of living crisis amid high inflation and a surge in energy prices made worse by Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
