Rishi Sunak said that Britain’s economic emergency had only just begun as the long-term damage that the pandemic has inflicted on growth, jobs and the public finances was laid bare.
The chancellor froze public sector pay and reduced foreign aid yesterday but must still find tens of billions in tax rises and spending cuts to stop debt running out of control.
The independent budget watchdog said that the economy would be 11.3 per cent smaller this year than was forecast before Covid-19, the biggest fall for 300 years, and still 3 per cent smaller by 2025 owing to “long-term scarring”.
It is not forecast to return to 2019 levels until late in 2022, meaning that coronavirus has cost the country three years of growth,
