Rishi Sunak must stretch the rules to splash cash in the regions

The weak economic data expected this week will leave No 11 worried about revenue

Treasury officials, already shell-shocked from a change of management, are expected to come under further pressure this week from figures showing wages growth slowing, retail sales flagging and inflation rising.

Ahead of a budget that is still scheduled for 11 March, economists at the finance ministry will want to assess the impact this will have on the public finances. The verdict is unlikely to be music to the ears of Rishi Sunak, now in place as chancellor after Sajid Javid, who balked at Boris Johnson’s insistence he prefer No 10’s advisers to his own, resigned.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2uEReRC