With Britain in the grip of the biggest recession since the 1930s, all eyes were on the Chancellor yesterday. Despite recent talk about the first signs of ‘green shoots’ of recovery, the macro economic figures showed that the UK is suffering from the worst downturn for sixty years. Last year’s Pre-Budget Report forecasts were shown to have been highly optimistic but today, the Chancellor conceded that the economy would contract by 3.5% this year and borrowing would rise to a total of £175 billion this year equivalent to 12 % of GDP. There was a focus on helping people through the recession and building a future filled with opportunity – this included increased funding in green technologies, the ‘world’s first ever carbon budget’.
Edelman’s full analysis of the budget is available here.
This morning, Edelman is hosting a Budget Breakfast with Philip Hammond MP, John McFall MP, Peter Riddell and John Cridland commenting on the budget. This promises to be an exciting event and we will be putting up interviews and highlights tomorrow so watch this space. You can follow more on our Twitter feed as it happens here.
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