Benefit rises will take 18 months to catch up with inflation, OBR chair tells MPs – UK politics live

Latest updates: warning comes as chancellor is to face Commons Treasury committee this afternoon amid criticism over his spring statement

Q: Is it right for trans women to be able to compete in women’s sports?

Starmer says that should be a matter for the sporting authorities.

I spent a lot of my working life dealing with violence against women and girls first-hand, and I know from that experience, just how important it is to fight for women and fight for equality.

We have had legislation in this country which makes it clear that in some circumstances, particularly at the moment under the law when you’ve gone through a process, you can be recognised in the gender of your choosing, that’s been the position for over a decade now ...

But I equally - I want to be really clear about this - I am an advocate of safe spaces for women.

I don’t think that discussing this issue in this way helps anyone in the long run.

What I want to see is a reform of the law as it is, but I am also an advocate of safe spaces for women and I want to have a discussion that is ... anybody who genuinely wants to find a way through this, I want to discuss that with, and I do find that too many people - in my view - retreat or hold a position of which is intolerant of others.

Of course there are circumstances and anybody who insults family members excites something quite emotional in all of us.

But, on the other hand, to go up and hit someone in that way is wrong, I’m afraid. It was the wrong thing to do.

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Upshot of Rishi Sunak’s spring statement? A bleak decade ahead

Analysis: Britain has ceased to be a country where workers can expect to get better off year after year

Much has been written about the year of economic misery ahead. Rishi Sunak’s attempts to mitigate the impact of the squeeze on living standards have been pored over and – generally – found wanting. The postmortem examinations carried out on the chancellor’s spring statement were unflattering.

There was plenty for the thinktanks that specialise in analysing tax, spending and living standards – the Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies – to mull over.

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UK politics live: P&O Ferries boss ‘should resign after admitting company knowingly broke law’, MP says

Latest updates: transport committee chair calls on Peter Hebblethwaite to resign after admitting company chose to sack staff without consultation

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, has delivered his considered verdict on the spring statement at a briefing.

He dismissed Rishi Sunak as a “fiscal illusionist” and warned that public sector workers face “hefty” real-terms pay cuts in the future under Sunak’s plans. He said:

Mr Sunak has proved to be something of a fiscal illusionist. He told us that he cut taxes yesterday. In a sense he did. He increased the floor for NICs and promised a cut in income tax in 2024. So Mr Sunak’s statement contained big new tax cuts. But it also allowed taxes to rise. He can now expect to raise more in tax as a share of national income by 2025 than he expected last October. In fact, taxes are set to rise to their highest level as a fraction of national income since Clement Attlee was prime minister. Not my comparison, that comes directly from the OBR.

[Sunak] is also effectively cutting spending on public services in real terms relative to previous plans. Yesterday he offered them no extra cash at all to deal with higher inflation. The exact scale of this cut relative to previous plans is a little uncertain, but it is significant. It will almost certainly mean some more hefty real pay cuts across the public sector, coming on top of cuts both in real terms and relative to the private sector over the last 12 years.

This is a tax raising chancellor. The tax burden is the highest it’s been since the 1940s.

The chancellor can say as many times as he likes that he’s a tax-cutting chancellor but it’s a bit like a kid in his bedroom playing air guitar – he’s not a rockstar.

The problem is for this chancellor, is that by the end of this parliament seven out of eight people will be paying more taxes – only one in eight will be paying less taxes.

That’s a disaster for working people, for the poorest people in society who are struggling with rising food prices, rising petrol prices and most of all the big increases in tax and electricity bills.

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Rishi Sunak’s spring statement reopens questions about his political savvy

Analysis: Clunky media appearances highlight an awkwardness with ordinary voters that was invisible during the pandemic

One of Gordon Brown’s few and oft-repeated jokes was that there are two kinds of chancellor: those who fail, and those who get out in time.

Despite having served little more than two years in the job, Rishi Sunak may have missed the moment to quit – or move next door – while he was ahead, according to Thursday’s front pages at least.

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‘Sticking-plaster measures’: Sunak fails to ease pain of surging costs, say firms

Hospitality, manufacturing and haulage sectors say spring statement falls far short of the help needed

The spring statement did not deliver much to help Lesters, a small but growing packaging company struggling with rising costs.

The Staffordshire-based firm’s energy bills will rise from £7,000 a month to £18,000 when the current contract runs out. Speaking after Rishi Sunak’s spring statement, Lesters’ managing director, Billy Hutchinson, said the chancellor had offered nothing to help on this key issue.

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Rishi Sunak handed borrowing boost before spring statement

Figures improve chances of fuel duty or other tax cuts but inflation drives up cost of government debt

Rishi Sunak has been handed a boost from figures showing lower government borrowing than official estimates on the eve of the spring statement.

The figures come despite a sharp rise in debt interest payments last month amid soaring inflation.

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