UK’s most vulnerable face crunch as Rishi Sunak helps better-off

Chancellor responds to highest inflation in three decades with lower fuel duty and vow to cut income tax

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Britain's most vulnerable households will face the full force of the biggest squeeze on living standards on record after Rishi Sunak targeted better-off workers for help in his 9bn mini-budget package of tax and duty cuts.

The chancellor responded to the highest inflation in three decades with a 5p-a-litre cut in fuel duty and a 3,000 increase in the threshold for national insurance contributions but faced immediate and widespread criticism for failing to shield pensioners and those dependent on state benefits from the impact of a cost-of-living crisis.