Jeremy Hunt talks with ex-chancellor George Osborne ahead of autumn budget
The Chancellor was consulting Tory predecessors after warning of ‘very, very difficult decisions’ on tax and spending.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has sought the advice of George Osborne as he sounds out Conservative predecessors over his upcoming autumn budget.
A Treasury source said Mr Hunt met Mr Osborne, the architect of austerity in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, in Downing Street on Thursday.
Meetings were also said to have been arranged with Kwasi Kwarteng, Mr Hunt’s predecessor whose mini-budget sparked the financial turmoil that forced Liz Truss from office.
Rishi Sunak and Mr Hunt have delayed the budget from Halloween to November 17 as they review commitments made under Ms Truss.
They have refused to commit to the triple lock on pensions, meaning millions could face real-terms cuts in April, as inflation soars past 10%.
The pledge of defence spending increasing to 3% of GDP by 2030 was also under review.
Mr Sunak was also not committing to Boris Johnson’s promise to raise benefits in line with inflation.
The Chancellor has pledged to get “debt falling over the medium term” and has warned of “very, very difficult decisions” being required on tax and spending.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that many departments’ spending budgets are still far below their 2010 levels in real terms, in some cases more than 25% lower, making further savings hard to come by.
