The combined challenges of an economic slowdown, rising energy costs and the transition to net zero loom over this government
Long before there was talk of an energy crisis, the government had been looking vulnerable. Economic growth is slowing and inflation is rising. Despite the Indian summer, Covid-19 infection rates remain high, and the warm weather won’t last for ever.
The prop provided to the labour market by the furlough scheme will be kicked away at the end of the month, and nobody can be sure of how that will affect the businesses that have grown used to the wages of their staff being met by the state. Millions of struggling people are about to become £20 a week worse off when universal credit reverts to its pre-crisis level. There will be tax increases next spring to bring down NHS waiting lists.