Rishi Sunak: hard choices ahead to tackle debt from Covid crisis

Chancellor hints at tax rises or spending cuts to balance books after pandemic

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Rishi Sunak has warned hard choices" will need to be made to tackle record levels of national debt incurred during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the government has a sacred responsibility" to balance the books for future generations.

Using his speech to the Conservative party conference to drop the broadest possible hint that tax rises or spending cuts would be used in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the chancellor suggested the Tories had a moral obligation to cut Britain's debt pile.