This House of Lords Library briefing has been withdrawn pending revision.
This briefing is the fifth of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy. The series proceeds decade-by-decade from the 1950s onwards, providing an overview of the key macroeconomic developments of each decade. This fifth briefing looks at the 1990s. In this decade the UK economy settled into a period of low inflation and steady growth; however, living standards growth was lower and more regionally concentrated than in previous decades.
While international attention has largely been focused on the Middle East and Ukraine, the civil war in Sudan continues. The UN has characterised the conflict as the “world’s largest hunger crisis”. As peace negotiations stall, concerns are rising not only for the people of Sudan but also about the conflict spreading to neighbouring states.
The Budget Responsibility Bill would require ministers to request an assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for every major fiscal announcement and give the OBR the power to decide to publish one if the minister failed to request it. This follows the September 2022 ‘mini-budget’. The statement included plans that would have resulted in a projected £45bn reduction in tax income. It did not have an accompanying OBR assessment.
