𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The decade continues to look “really tough” for living standards, as most of the “pain” from Rachel Reeves’ Budget will not be felt until 2028, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank said.

Ruth Curtice told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “On kind of the fiscal repair job, she increased her head room by a lot, but she delayed the pain. So borrowing is actually up every year until 29-30. So interestingly, delaying the pain until just before an election.”

Ms Curtice continued: “Those threshold freezes kick in in 2028. Some of the other measures also not coming in – for example the mansion tax and the salary sacrifice – until 2028, so that’s when most of the pain from this Budget will be felt.”

She also said: “This Parliament is set to be second only to the last parliament for (living) standards… This decade continues to look really, really tough.”

Unemployment is higher than forecast in March, “so for some people who are struggling in the jobs market a particularly tough outlook”.

On welfare, the think tank boss said that while spending on pensioner and health and disability benefits are rising more than expected, “we didn’t hear much yesterday of how they might take action in the future”.