GDP TO CONTRACT

Britain’s economy is forecast to shrink next year, finance minister Jeremy Hunt said as he began outlining how he and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will raise taxes and cut spending to repair the public finances, despite the grim outlook.

The new forecast is for gross domestic product to contract by 1.4 per cent next year compared with a projection for growth of 1.8 per cent in the previous outlook published in March by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).