Business leaders have welcomed measures by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help cut the rising cost of living and the cost of doing business amid reports that inflation could hit 7.4 per cent or above this year.
That, combined with a slowdown in the post-Covid rate of growth, threatens to push the UK into some of the toughest economic conditions in a generation.
There are growing concerns that the poor will be hit hardest by the rising cost of necessities such as food, gas, electricity and fuel which make up a higher proportion of their outgoings.
