Jeremy Hunt urged to slash taxes by Tory MPs after UK dipped into mild recession

RISHI Sunak would have been braced for Britain to enter a recession today - but that does not make it any less painful, says The Sun's Chief Political Correspondent Jack Elsom

The PM and Tory MPs will be keen to stress that it is a “technical” recession, meaning two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

It is a binary term: You’re either in a recession, or you’re not.

And because the last two quarters of 2023 were -0.1 and -0.3 per cent respectively, the economy has just slid under the wrong side of the line.

There has been no economic crash overnight, no run on the banks, no market turmoil.

However, the issue for Mr Sunak is that, for a lot of voters, that is what comes to mind when they think of the word “recession” - a 2008-style financial crisis.

Even the Bank of England boss Andrew Bailey said people should not worry.

Speaking earlier this week he said he would “not put too much weight” on the news, saying the recession would be “very shallow”.

It does mean that the PM’s pledge to “grow the economy” is not yet being met, with Labour describing it as “in tatters”.

Growth has been sluggish for a while, as it has been in many European countries grappling with inflation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Covid fallout.

Firing up the economy would always be difficult while trying to take the heat out of price rises, which Britain has now successfully done.

Inflation stats defied expectation this week as they held steady at 4 per cent, flying in the face of more gloomy forecasts.

Mr Sunak’s job now will be to convince people he has a credible economic plan for growth.

For many Tory MPs that can only mean one thing: tax cuts at next month’s Budget.