Rishi Sunak will use budget to declare ‘age of optimism’

Chancellor to strike upbeat tone despite cost-of-living crisis, with spending pledges worth billions

Rishi Sunak will use his budget to insist the UK is entering an economic age of optimism" despite a looming cost-of-living crisis, after making a deluge of promises to spend billions more on health, transport and skills.

In an attempt to strike an upbeat tone during his second budget on Wednesday, the chancellor will say his aim is to create a new economy post-Covid".