UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt promises tax increases, spending cuts

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt warned on Sunday of a coming spending crunch and tax increases for cash-strapped Britons as he bids to fill the “black hole” in the country’s finances.

Billing himself as a Scrooge figure ahead of Thursday’s Autumn Statement, when he will update Parliament on the government’s budget measures, Hunt said he was forced to make “very difficult decisions” in his attempt to curb inflation and put the economy back on an even keel.

He told British broadcasters that he was determined to make an expected recession as shallow as possible, and warned that everyone could expect to pay more tax.