Britain is facing the biggest hit to living standards on record after Jeremy Hunt announced sweeping tax rises and spending cuts heralding a fresh wave of austerity. Meanwhile, the public sector has seen pay growth fall behind that of the private sector at the sharpest rate on record.
The chancellor offered an additional £3.3bn for the NHS and £2.3bn for schools a year and a real-terms increase for government departments, albeit at a slower rate. Here workers from those sectors react to his autumn statement, suggesting the sums fall short of what is needed to meet spiralling costs and avert strikes.
