Experts have branded the economy "moribund" and tipped unemployment to reach an 11-year high in 2026, according to The Times annual Economic Survey.
The report compiles the assessments of almost 50 top economists who suggested the UK economy will require at least two interest rate cuts to produce growth and offset tax increases.
The analysts predicted growth to remain slow in 2026 and heavily reliant on government spending in spite of reductions to the cost of borrowing by the Bank of England.
More than two thirds (67%) of the economists surveyed said that unemployment would end 2026 at between 5% and 5.5%. If the higher end of that range is realised it would exceed levels seen during the Covid pandemic and hit its highest rate since 2015.
The present level, 5.1%, is already the highest level in close to five years.
Nina Skero, chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, told The Times: “Hiring will continue to be suppressed by the dismal growth outlook, the recently increased employer-paid taxes, and, in some sectors, by the now exceptionally high minimum wage.”
Read the full story in The Times.