Spring statement 2022: living standards ‘set for historic fall’, says OBR after Sunak mini budget – as it happened

This live blog has now closed, you can read more coverage of the 2022 spring statement here

• Full report: Sunak lowers fuel duty by 5p and promises income tax cut
• Spring statement 2022: key points at a glance
• Boris Johnson says P&O sackings appear to have broken law
• UK living standards to fall at fastest rate since mid-1950s'
• Business live: UK inflation soars

This is from Newsnight's Ben Chu, on what is driving the inflation increase announced today.

According to a Sky News report, P&O Ferries did not need to give the government advance notice of its plans to sack 800 staff because of a change to employment law signed off by Chris Grayling when he was transport secretary in 2018. This meant ministers did not need to be notified about mass redundancies if vessels were registerd overseas. In a letter to the business department (pdf), released yesterday, the P&O Ferries chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, cited this as the reason why ministers did not get the usual notice; the ferries are all registered outside the UK.

The Conservatives have given the green light to rogue employers to act with impunity. This scandal is the consequence of a decade in which the Tories have taken an axe to workers' rights.

Talk is cheap - Ministers must act now and stand up for these loyal British workers. A Labour government will strengthen employee protections and ban fire and rehire to give people the security they deserve for an honest day's work.