Spring Budget 23: Positive steps towards economic recovery but 'bumpy' road ahead

Industry reacts to Spring Budget

Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget has been commended for providing people with some breathing space from the cost of living crisis via fuel and draught reliefs, childcare benefits, energy support and generous extensions to pension allowances, but the road to economic recovery is a long one, industry experts have said.

The chancellor has frozen fuel duty for an extra year and given pubs an 11p relief on draught beer. At the same time, families will be able to secure double the time of free childcare for under-two-year-olds, up to 30 hours a week, and savers have been handed a 50% increase to the pensions annual allowance and a surprise abolition of the pension lifetime allowance. The government's economic outlook was also applauded by experts, with Hunt citing the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecasts that UK inflation will fall from 10.7% in Q4 2022 to 2.9% at the end of 2023. While Hunt's p...