![]() The figure is down sharply from a peak of 11.1% in October 2022, as food and energy prices have eased. The Bank of England’s long-term target is to keep inflation at a “low and stable” 2%. “Nearly a whole year earlier than forecast in the autumn statement,” he adds. Inflation is expected to fall below the government’s 2% target in “just a few months’ time”, Hunt says, down from 4% in January. This is the big, and perhaps insurmountable, challenge the government faces. PW: For all that successive fiscal statements have been billed as a “budget for growth”, even these forecasts are fairly anaemic, and unlikely to instil new hope in Tory MPs facing electoral defeat. Growth is then forecast to be 2% in 2026 before dipping to 1.8% and 1.7% in 20. That is slightly stronger than the 0.7% and 1.4% growth rate expected by the Office for Budget Responsibility at the time of the autumn statement in November. Hunt says the economy is expected to grow by 0.8% this year and 1.9% in 2025. ![]() Hunt says the “long-term ambition” is to cut it further when possible. It will be popular with Tory MPs – but the same ruse was tried in the autumn statement, and did not shift the polls at all. PW: This is the worst-kept fiscal secret in Westminster, as briefed and reported more or less everywhere. It is estimated that the 2p cut to national insurance would be worth about £450 a year for someone on a £35,000 full-time salary. This comes on top of a 2p cut in the autumn statement in November, which reduced the rate from 12% to 10%. Hunt confirms that the national insurance contribution rate will be cut from 10% to 8% of pay from April. Peter Walker, deputy political editor: Anyone who had forgotten this is an election year will have been reminded after Hunt launched into an overtly political opening section, which criticised Labour’s supposed spending plans before he set out even one of his own.
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