Spring Budget 23: Hunt's 'optimistic' Budget shrouds likely 'new round of austerity' post-election

‘Still felt like a recession for many’

The first Budget from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt paints, on the surface, a rosier picture for the UK, one set to dodge a technical recession and inflation to fall to 2.9% by Christmas.

But experts have claimed that these upbeat messages do not tell the whole story, as Marcus Brookes, chief investment officer at Quilter Investors, said the chancellor's "positivity is perhaps slightly premature", given the current socioeconomic and macroeconomic backdrop. He said that while the UK may not be on track for a recession this year, a U-turn on previous forecasts, the cost-of-living crisis has been painfully felt for many. "The Chancellor may have said that the UK will not enter a technical recession this year, but for many this will have felt like one, and it is hard to ge...