Fiscal Statement 2022: Digital

Last week’s fiscal statement, the ‘mini-Budget’ that the Government insisted wasn’t, in fact, a Budget at all, came at 9:30am on Friday 23 September and brought with it some significant, unexpected and (in some cases) controversial measures.

Amid preceding uncertainty about if, when, or whether there’d even be a fiscal statement this month, recently appointed Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng ushered in what he heralded as “a new era” for businesses and families across the United Kingdom.

If you were in any doubt that this wasn’t your typical Budget, or a Budget at all, look no further than the absence of an economic outlook report from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The Chancellor emphasised that, in light of this, there would be a fuller package of announcements to come later in the autumn.

But the measures announced last week, he deemed, were actions that needed to be taken without delay to prevent further economic decline.

As recently as August, the Office for National Statistics reported that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, had risen by 9.9% in the 12 months to August 2022 – far above the 2% inflation target the Bank of England aims for.