The chancellor told the Sophy Ridge program on Sunday during Thursday’s autumn statement that he would “ask everyone to make sacrifices” but acknowledges there is “only so much we can ask” of people on the lowest incomes. “That will be reflected in the decisions I make, it is important because Britain is a decent country, a fair country, a compassionate country,” he said. “We’ll all be paying a bit more tax, I’m afraid.” Nurses across the UK voted this week to go on strike for the first time, with a date to be confirmed, as they demand a 17% pay rise. Mr Hunt, who was health secretary when doctors first went on strike in 2015, said he was “very aware” of their concerns and understood they were asking for this above-inflation rise because of the impact of inflation on their pay. packet. But he said: “I think we have to recognize a hard truth that if we gave everyone inflation-proof pay rises, inflation would persist. We will not reduce inflation. “And so, you know, I’m not pretending that there aren’t some tough decisions. “The way to do that is to reduce inflation as quickly as possible, because that’s the root cause of your worry, your anger, your frustration, that your pay isn’t going as far as it could.” Image: Jeremy Hunt told Sophie Ridge on Sunday that tax will rise for everyone Mr Hunt promised the autumn statement would “not just be bad news”, but said he believed the public recognized “if you want to give people confidence about the future, you have to be honest about the present”. He said his plan would reduce inflation, control high energy prices and “get us back to growth, healthy.” The chancellor said his plan would help get the UK out of recession as quickly as possible and also promised help with energy bills not only this winter, but next. But he also said that spending cuts would be needed from government departments and hinted that no more funding would be given to the NHS. He said funding for the health service was already increasing, but the government needed to do “everything we can to find efficiencies”. Mr Hunt admitted that doctors and nurses “on the front line are frankly under a lot of pressure, so I recognize the picture”. He added that public services needed a strong economy, but the reverse was also true and said the NHS could help get the UK out of its current economic difficulties, such as helping the growing number of people out of work due to long-term illness.
