The questions which will determine whether families feel the pinch this Christmas and beyond are all up to the chancellor
Economic commentators and investors all have their eyes on inflation, and the unexpected decision by the Bank of England to raise interest rates, for the first time in three years, to 0.25% – in spite of the disruption and uncertainty of Omicron. But behind the headlines and the focus on the Bank, the biggest macroeconomic questions facing the UK – which will determine whether families feel the pinch this Christmas and beyond – are all up to the chancellor.
Inflation has reached its highest level in a decade, at 5.1%. Yet this isn’t inflation of the 1970s kind, still raised as an economic bogeyman to stoke fear of “wage-price spirals”. The governor of the Bank of England has said there is little risk of this. Inflation is, in fact, outstripping pay rises – so average pay packets are shrinking in real terms.
Carys Roberts is executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research
