Ides of March for UK as Hunt sets Spring Budget date

UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt will set out a spring budget on March 15 2023, the Treasury said on Monday amid a cost-of-living crisis and rising anger over depressed public sector wages.

The statement will include forecasts of the economy as it heads into a widely-forecast and long recession.

Hunt delivered his first budget last month as the government sought to repair the damage done by the car-crash mini-budget from then finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng and disastrous prime minister Liz Truss and Kwarteng.

Their package of £44bn in unfunded tax cuts spooked bond markets, slashing billions from the value of workers’ pension funds and forcing the Bank of England to intervene.

Hunt’s package included a raid on tax-free allowances for small investors, cuts to public spending after the next election, and the freezing of tax bands that would force taxpayers to shell out even more as their bills rise. Thousands of public sector workers, from nurses to train station cleaners, have gone out on strike over pay which is failing to keep pace with inflation - currently at 11%.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com