By Annabel Martin, Melody Chan, Ruth Hallows and Sonal Nain

A month on from Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘mini-budget’, Jeremy Hunt announced £55bn in tax rises and £28bn in public spending cuts, whilst also confirming the UK was in a recession. 

“It is a balanced plan for stability, a plan for growth and a plan for public services,” said Hunt. Plans included increasing the current energy price guarantee from £2,500 to £3,000 per year, an additional £1bn in funding to further the extension of the household support fund and cutting the threshold for the 45p tax rate to £125,140.

Hunt said: “British families make sacrifices every day to live within their means and so too must their government because the United Kingdom will always pay its way.” 

Eastlondonlines took to the streets to ask local businesses and residents for their reaction to Hunt’s Autumn Statement, after he spelt out his plans to cut public spending during a recession. 

Sayeed Usihan Hossaini, a 38-year-old from Catford is “very worried” by the Autumn Statement. On the increase of the energy price guarantee, Hossaini’s main concern was for his family.

As someone who uses a pre-paid meter, the £20 Hossaini topped up on Monday is already running low: “We can’t turn on the heating because it’s very bad. We’re having to use blankets to stay warm.”

Hossaini added: “Everything is going up. All the necessities, like milk, for example, have gone up. It’s becoming very hard to survive.”

“They give you grants but they’re temporary, that’s why it’s very hard to live in the future.”

Sarah Chelsom, a DJ also working at South Norwood Community kitchen, said the future looks “very bleak”. Doctors and nurses are among those going to the community kitchen for support and people are turning up two hours early to get to the front of the line “because they’re so desperate”. 

She added: “The government should give free school meals to everyone, even working people because they’re struggling.”

Chelsom has put on fundraising events for the kitchen because cuts and increased bills have had “a devastating effect on us”. 

“As I go around Croydon on my mobility scooter it breaks my heart … The situation is getting worse and the government has made the situation worse because they’ve given tax cuts to the rich. It’s the rich helping the rich and the poor don’t have a leg to stand on. The situation is very bleak,” said Chelsom. 

Eighty-five-year-old army veteran, Leonard Whiskers keeps himself warm in local cafés.

He said: “You know I’m lucky in a way because I’ve got my army pension, but I have to be very careful how I spend it. If I was sat at home, I couldn’t have the heating on all day.”

Previously a Conservative supporter, he’s losing confidence in his party: “These people don’t know how the poorer people live do they? They’re all millionaires … I don’t know how it got this way, I really don’t. Honestly, it’s got me stumped.”

John Herbert, a market stall owner from Southwark, blames Liz Truss for the country’s current economic situation: “She done it, all that Truss done. All the damage and it’s carried on from there really. It’s all escalated.” 

The 72-year-old is worried about his generation: “[It’s] very sad for the old people … I’m 72 now and I have to keep working.”

He added: “You can’t retire yet, you can’t. You have to keep working and trying to earn some pennies. It’s sad.” With the increase in energy bills, he said: “You can’t have the heating on.”

Rich Baker, 58, a restaurant owner living in Tower Hamlets, told Eastlondonlines about his sustainable business, Flat Earth Pizzas in Hackney: “[I am] Angry. Worried. Concerned. I worry about our industry, hospitality, which is hit on all levels. We’ve been hit on efficiency, [a] lack of sales, living wage … So we’re hit on labor costs as well.”

He added: “The only thing at the moment is we get a business risk reduction that ends in April. So April is going to be a killer. Subsequently, I worry about the closure of our business.”

“I do not trust the Tory policy at all. We’re all frustrated about the profits made by big energy suppliers. They say they’re putting their money back into renewable energy I don’t necessarily believe as such.”

Neisha Dupuis is a 24-year-old freelancer and masters student at Goldsmiths in Lewisham. It is not about political parties for Dupuis: “I’m not particularly tied to any party – Tory or Labour – I’m really just interested in who has the best policies and who genuinely cares about the citizens of the UK and who will make my life better.” 

On the Autumn Statement, she said: “I was really looking forward to listening to their policies and the government’s plan. I didn’t necessarily feel disappointed by it. Actually, in some ways I felt relieved. For example, the increase in pay for people over 23, moving that the £10.42 was a really good move.”

However, as a student she was concerned about the cost-of-living crisis: “Right now my budget is pretty stretched,” she said.

She added: “I’m a full time student and I work up to 1am in the morning sometimes and that’s just to keep food on my table.” 

Mike Tongue, 52, a technology company director who was visiting his family in Hackney, told Eastlondonlines: “It’s all very depressing. Really. I work in the technology sector … The same sector as the likes of Twitter and Google and Amazon, and all these companies … They’re all already shedding. They’re already preparing for bad times.”

“But I think the biggest thing that I was a bit disappointed [with] was, [Jeremy Hunt] acting as though he’s blaming the last slot, as though the last slot was somehow the opposition, but it’s actually his own government.”

He added : “It’s hard to retain any confidence [in the Tories]. They’re very good at blaming global pressures … What’s happening in the globe … But they’re not very good at blaming some of the things that they’ve done.”

Erdal Pinar, 46, works at Lovers Mini Market, an off-licence store on Ben Jonson Road, Tower Hamlets. He told ELL: “Everything is currently very expensive and skyrocketing. As prices rise, consumers request discounts or search for less expensive options.”

Pinar, a resident of the Tottenham neighbourhood, said: “The recession will impact the business as well as households badly. The energy bills used to be about £1,000, now it is £1,300. It will impact everyone but all the more us local businesses. Given that Rishi has only recently came, there hasn’t really been any change in the government.”