00:00 With the spring budget looming, did the last one deliver?
00:05 Well, during his speech last year, Jeremy Hunt said that a forecast from the Office
00:08 for Budget Responsibility said that inflation would be halved by the end of the year.
00:13 When the statement was made, inflation was still above 10% and it did more than halve,
00:17 reaching 4% by the close of 2023.
00:20 But whether the budget was won for growth is another story.
00:23 That's what the Chancellor called it, but according to official figures, the economy
00:26 has not grown since.
00:28 For the rest of last year, at first, there was zero growth, followed by two contractions,
00:32 plunging the UK economy into a recession.
00:35 Hunt also promised help for pubs, but beer prices kept rising.
00:39 The Office for National Statistics said they were up 7.5% in January, with prices increasing
00:44 every month of the year.
00:46 But that was still a smaller increase than beer from shops.
00:49 That was last year, but what about the year ahead?
00:51 With the cost of living continuing to rise and the country now in a recession, the Chancellor
00:55 certainly has a big job on his hands.
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