The United Kingdom’s finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, has hailed his plan aimed at speeding up a stagnating economy as tens of thousands of workers who are furious with the government went on strike, calling for better working conditions and wages that would allow them to navigate a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
Hunt on Wednesday unveiled childcare and tax reforms to get more people into work and corporate tax breaks to boost low levels of business investment as he presented his budget in parliament to jeers from the opposition Labour Party, which is riding high in opinion polls ahead of an election expected next year.
