17 Nov 2022
This is how the Chancellor positioned his Autumn Statement to Sky News on the weekend. It set the tone: this Autumn Statement has completed the reversal from the "mini Budget" (with its £45bn of unfunded tax-cuts). In its place, the Chancellor has announced a balancing act between spending restraint, outright and immediate tax rises, stealth tax measures and fiscal drag. This has allowed him to limit some of the pain and even announce some new spending while ensuring that the tax take, combined with targeted spending cuts, improves the nation's finances over the next six years by a projected £55bn, helping to address that "very big deterioration".