[1] The budget addressed the ongoing cost of living crisis,[2] and saw the announcement of a five-year package of tax increases and spending cuts designed to steer the UK through recession.

After Hunt replaced Kwarteng as Chancellor in October he reversed the majority of the mini-budget's measures in an emergency statement to the House of Commons.

On 10 November, the Progressive Economy Forum, a centre-left think tank, questioned the actual size of the "black hole" and whether tax rises and austerity measures would be needed to fill it.

The think tank argued that calculating the debt under the previously used method would show a gap of £14bn rather than the generally accepted figure which was estimated at the time to be as high as £50bn.

[14] The statement, which Hunt described as being made "in the face of unprecedented global headwinds",[15] set out a five-year programme of tax increases and spending cuts worth £55bn that the Chancellor argued would lead to a "shallower downturn" with fewer jobs lost.

[20] In its report, published at the same time as the autumn statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) concluded the UK had entered a recession after experiencing two quarters in which the economy had shrunk.

[21] Responding to the statement, Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor, described Hunt as having "picked the pockets" of the country with "stealth taxes", and called the measures announced by him "an invoice for the economic carnage" caused by the Government of Liz Truss.

Tim Stovold, of accountants Moore Kingston Smith, described the statement as "a reasonably soft landing" for very high earners, who had been warned that "those with the broadest shoulders would pay the most" – a situation that had not materialised.

[26] In its analysis of the autumn statement, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that the most difficult decisions had been postponed until after 2024, and that the UK was entering a "new era" of high taxation.

[29] Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC's political editor, questioned whether those difficult decisions would ever be made: "Perhaps after all, the cuts pencilled in for just after the next election may never come to pass.

[14] Tony Danker of the Confederation of British Industry said Hunt had prioritised stability and the battle against inflation over economic growth in the Autumn Statement.