London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Rishi Sunak warns UK economy will get worse before it gets better

Rishi Sunak warns UK economy will get worse before it gets better

Tougher Covid rules will have impact before vaccine improves outlook, says chancellor

Rishi Sunak has warned Britain’s economic performance will worsen before the coronavirus vaccine helps to improve the outlook for jobs and growth.

The chancellor told the House of Commons that, while the vaccine provides hope, there was a need for tougher national restrictions to contain the spread of the virus and that this would have a “further significant economic impact”.

“While the vaccine provides hope, the economy is going to get worse before it gets better,” he said.



Speaking in the Commons for the first time since the government launched a third national lockdown, Sunak said the Treasury’s emergency support measures were helping to protect jobs and businesses and that the vaccine was the “most important economic lever” to reboot the economy.

But despite calls from business leaders, trade unions and Labour for a fresh package to match the challenges posed by the latest restrictions, the chancellor only restated the support now available under previously announced schemes.

Sunak said he was confident that “this comprehensive support” – which totals more than £280bn in higher spending and tax cuts since the pandemic began – would help Britain through until the spring.

Indicating that any major changes would be left until the budget on 3 March, the chancellor said there were signs of “underlying resilience” in the British economy, including a rise in household savings to record levels, evidence of firms improving their cash buffers, and the new trading partnership with the EU removing Brexit uncertainty.

It comes after Sunak announced £4.6bn in new grants for firms in the hardest-hit sectors of the economy last week. The furlough scheme – which has been used to subsidise the wages of more than 9m jobs at more than 1m companies since its launch, at a cost of more than £46bn so far, has also been extended until the end of April.

However, the chancellor dropped a heavy hint that he would soon scale back high levels of government spending to tackle record government borrowing, saying the public finances were “badly damaged and will need repair”.

In an update devoid of new announcements, he said: “The road ahead will be tough. Now is the time for responsible management of our economy, taking the difficult but right long-term decisions for our country.”

Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, criticised Sunak for not announcing fresh measures. “Today the chancellor appears out of ideas, urging us to look to the sunny uplands but providing nothing new. The purpose of an update is to provide us with new information, not to repeat what we already know.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×