Britain’s governing Conservative Party hopes tax cuts can lift ailing election fortunes

In the run-up to the U.K.'s general election that opinion polls show the governing Conservative Party losing, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt will seek to regain the political initiative by announcing tax cuts Wednesday during his annual budget statement. With the British economy hitting one definition of recession and public finances stretched, he hasn't got much room for big tax cuts — unless he lays out a plan for another period of austerity for already cash-starved public services. In comments released by the Treasury ahead of his budget, Hunt is set to tell Parliament that the British economy withstood the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp spike in energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which sent inflation soaring and prompting the Bank of England to raise interest rates aggressively.