and it might help end the strikes. yet it should be noted that taxes are already rising sharply. and with a general election looming, this is, for obvious reasons, not an attractive avenue for ministers. but with the independent pay review reports on ministers desks and a decision expected very soon, it seems to be a choice they cannot duck. let s talk tojoe pike, our insight editor. joe, has the prime minister decided what to do? not formally, victoria. but tomorrow he will meet with jeremy not formally, victoria. but tomorrow he will meet withjeremy hunt, they will make a decision, and i am told they will announce it soon after. i am told by a senior government source, who has been involved in this process, that everything is moving towards a point where rishi sunak decides to accept the recommendations of this pay review body. it would mean around a 6% pay rise. i am told that funding gap
were much lower, in blue. the obr is forecasting that those tax rises and more significantly, the uk inflation rate, now at its highest rate in 41 years, will also drive those historic falls in real household disposable income. robin petherbridge was watching that and had this response. well, bbc news said they would give us a response to those questions and we ll bring you that next week. the statement was, of course, long awaited, and there had been plenty of previewing and speculation about what it might contain in the media over the past few weeks. as part of the build up, last weekend s sunday with laura kuenssberg included an interview withjeremy hunt.
an interview withjeremy hunt. will government departments get extra money now this year to deal with the costs of inflation? or are you going to, as everyone expects, tell them they ve got to stick with what they were given in 2021? well, as you know, laura, and i think andrea knows, i m going to announce the decisions on those things on thursday. well, again, without explaining to you now what i need to announce properly to the house of commons on thursday, i will be announcing what will happen from april on thursday. i m not going to say now what that is. but, laura, you re being very artful in trying to get me to confirm elements of the package that i announce on thursday, as i would expect from you. but i m not going to do that, i m afraid. a viewer called jens, originally from germany, but now living in northamptonshire, contacted us about that interview and recorded his response for us. as per usual, laura kuenssberg interviewed the chancellor on her sunday morning programme befo
months the town. is it the government s job to protect people or are they at the mercy of the market? tt or are they at the mercy of the market? , ,., , ., , market? it is the government s “ob to su ort market? it is the government s “ob to support people in i market? it is the government s “ob to support people in difficult i market? it is the government s job to support people in difficult times| to support people in difficult times and the prime minister in his article today in the mail on sunday has said while we need to take pretty tough measures to deal with inflation, fairness is the lodestone. as iain anderson pointed out, we will act in a compassionate way to make sure those who are vulnerable are supported. iptrufhozat way to make sure those who are vulnerable are supported. what will ou do? vulnerable are supported. what will you do? the vulnerable are supported. what will you do? the property vulnerable are supported. what will you do? the property website -
side of the coin was, they were saying and therefore rishi sunak or whoever would not have a democratic mandate. well, yeah, which is why we need to have an election. we shouldn t be allowing this government to crash our economy, because a crisis, get somebody else, we don t know if rishi sunak gets the crown today, he once had been elected by tory mps or by the tory membership or let alone by the public he won t, he won t even have been facing the media in advance of getting the crown, he won t be telling us, for example, whether he agrees withjeremy hunt, whether he agrees withjeremy hunt, whetherjeremy hunt will be his chancellor this time next week, whether he is going to be going ahead with the same policies as jeremy hunt, we have no idea. it s a complete leap into the blue, so to speak. it should not be like this. just to come on then, we are a