How the autumn statement brought back the ‘squeezed middle’

IFS and Resolution Foundation say Jeremy Hunt's policies will shock middle England, with higher taxes here to stay

• The British people just got a lot poorer', says IFS
• Autumn statement 2022: all our coverage

Traditionally, elections in Britain are decided by swing voters in a relatively small number of seats. Parties go to considerable lengths to tailor their policies to the perceived demands of those getting by on average incomes. Pollsters have even coined names for the archetypal electors that need to be wooed: Basildon man and Worcester woman.

So it will be of some concern to government strategists that the post-autumn statement analysis by thinktanks focused heavily on how the measures announced by Jeremy Hunt would have an effect on those not particularly poor but not especially rich either. The Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies each highlighted the return of the squeezed middle".