Biggest hit to living standards on record as Hunt lays out autumn statement

Austerity is pushed back until after the next election amid evidence of higher energy bills and a protracted recession

Britain faces the biggest hit to living standards on record as Jeremy Hunt set out 30bn of delayed spending cuts and 25bn of backdated tax increases in an autumn statement that laid bare the country's dire economic predicament.

Underlining the fragility of the economy, the chancellor pushed back the fresh austerity measures until after the next election amid evidence that higher energy bills and the worst inflation in four decades will cause a protracted recession, a jump in unemployment of 500,000 and a lost decade for living standards.