Sunak says it’ll take time for people feel better

Earlier this week, the Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey told the BBC that the UK was seeing a recovery, though not a strong one.

The Bank voted to hold interest rates at a 16-year high of 5.25%. It expects inflation – which measures the pace of price rises – to fall back to its 2% target in the next couple of months.

That had lifted forecasts of a rate cut next month. However, the stronger than expected GDP figures have dampened those expectations.

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said it showed “the Bank of England doesn’t need to rush to cut interest rates”.

She said the first rate cut would ultimately be determined by upcoming employment and inflation figures.

Mr Sunak said that the GDP figures show that the UK has the joint highest growth rate in the G7 developed nations, tying with Canada.

He added: “Wages and going up, energy bills are coming down and taxes are going down.”

The government has cut National Insurance by 4% since late last year.

However, it has also kept income tax thresholds frozen so when a person’s wage increases, they could be moving up into a higher tax bracket.