Chancellor Jeremy Hunt today said the UK is now in recession and thousands of people will lose their jobs. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast more than half a million people would lose their jobs, while living standards will crash as a result of rising prices.
The OBR’s assessment said: “Rising prices erode real wages and reduce living standards by 7% in total over the two financial years to 2023-24 (wiping out the previous eight years’ growth), despite over £100 billion of additional Government support.
“The squeeze on real incomes, rise in interest rates, and fall in house prices all weigh on consumption and investment, tipping the economy into a recession lasting just over a year from the third quarter of 2022, with a peak-to-trough fall in GDP of 2%.
