Gross domestic product for the second quarter probably shrank 0.2%, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg News ahead of the official figures due to be published this week.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown and the BOE’s former chief economist Charlie Bean this weekend added their voices pushing for an aid package that would help those hardest hit. They say the measures Johnson’s government brought forward earlier this year aren’t enough. “A financial time bomb will explode for families in October as a second round of fuel price rises in six months sends shockwaves through every household and pushes millions over the edge,” Brown wrote in the Observer newspaper. He’s scheduled to appear on ITV on Monday.
A YouGov poll published on the front page of the latest edition of the Times, which is backing Sunak, suggested that most voters would rather the next prime minister focus on tackling inflation and the looming cost-of-living crisis rather than slashing taxes. The BOE warned last week that the UK probably will enter recession in the fourth quarter of this year and keep shrinking for the whole of next year.