Spring statement 2022: Sunak leaves the most vulnerable to feel the squeeze | Larry Elliott

Chancellor offers only modest relief to households facing a 20bn hit to disposable incomes

• Spring statement: what it means for you
• Sunak lowers fuel duty by 5p and promises income tax cut
• Spring statement: key points at a glance

There have been plenty of bad years for the economy in the recent past and 2022 is shaping up to one of the worst of them. Energy bills are soaring. Taxes are going up. Inflation has returned with a vengeance. Living standards are set for their biggest fall since modern records began in the 1950s.

Faced with this cocktail of misfortune, it was always the height of optimism for Rishi Sunak to imagine he could stick to his plan of delivering a short, policy-light update on the state of the economy in a spring statement.