[6][7][8] It is expected that unemployment will peak at 6.5% (an improvement on the previous estimate of 11.9%) and that the budget deficit will reach £355 billion in 2021, or 17% of GDP, the highest level in peacetime.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer announced that the Labour Party will back plans to increase the corporation tax after Sunak announced any rises would be delayed to 2023; Starmer and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Anneliese Dodds had previously voiced strong opposition to tax rises leading up to the budget.

[12] Former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell similarly claimed that working people would be hit hard by the freeze to the income tax threshold and the cut to universal credit uplift.

[19] In contrast, former Labour shadow ministers Ian Lavery and Jon Trickett supported raising corporation tax, arguing that it would hit the profits of big businesses rather than hard-pressed families.

[22] Charmaine Griffiths of the British Heart Foundation warned that the NHS would not be able to tackle the backlog of treatment and care caused by the pandemic as the budget does not pre-empt the possible rise in COVID-19 infections in winter.