Jeremy Hunt defends his Autumn Statement

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has woken up to a harsh set of front pages this morning following his Autumn Statement, with the Mail accusing the Tories of ‘soaking the strivers’ and the Telegraph lead headline quoting an economist who says the Chancellor has combined ‘the rhetoric of George Osborne and the policies of Gordon Brown’.

In particular the Chancellor has come under fire for raising the tax burden to a post-war high while also overseeing what the Office for Budget Responsibility says will be the biggest fall in living standards over the same period.

The Chancellor therefore set out this on the morning broadcast round to steady the ship and see off criticism from the Tory backbenches.

Addressing the criticisms of his Autumn Statement raising the tax burden, Hunt told Sky News that ‘there is nothing Conservative about spending money that you haven’t got.’