Kuenssberg says that although the chancellor says he has no alternative, he has no choice but to act in this way; it is a political decision.

He says unusually for a Chancellor he comes into office having just tried two months earlier under different leadership a plan that doesn't show that we can afford it and that shows we can bring down our debts and it didn't work.

He says it means recognising families are struggling and businesses need a plan for the future that shows the UK has a future to invest in.

He says he has choices that he will make honestly and fairly in a way that recognises the challenges families are facing up and down the country.

Hunt is next asked if he has abandoned ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's energy plan.

He says he wants to try to deliver the ambition that the former PM set out in a credible and affordable way.

Is it sneaky to freeze tax thresholds - why not call it a tax rise, Laura Kuenssberg asks.

"I'm a Conservative chancellor and I think I've been completely explicit that taxes are going to go up", which is a difficult thing for him to do, he says, as he came into politics to do the opposite.

Hunt says he can't answer specifics right now - but he recognises "the economy is struggling, businesses are struggling, families are struggling, and we need to help people in a difficult time".

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is quizzed on what's he going to do to bring down soaring energy bills​

He says he will announce the full plan on Thursday but it's not about short-term support. it's showing "we have a plan that means we can bring down the price of energy bills on a long term basis".

He says: "Will we continue to support people? Yes we will. Will it be uncapped unlimited? There has to be some constraint to it but we will continue to support families and I'll explain exactly how we are going to do that."

Pushed on whether help with be available for all families or just the most vulnerable, he says he does recognise that many people are struggling.

The next viewer question is from Trevor Lyttleton who is a campaigner for elderly people. He asks whether the chancellor will ensure there is fully funded social care to reduce bed blocking and tackle the NHS backlog.

Hunt says he won't explain now what he needs to announce on Thursday - but as a former health secretary he knows you cannot separate the NHS and the care system they go hand-in -hand.

"You have to think of those two sectors together and we have to recognise that, yes we are putting a lot more money into the NHS, but there are real pressures there because the number of older people is going up."

He says people will see ​this is a government committed to helping people facing the greatest difficulties​.

He says if we are in a recession he wants it to be short and shallow.

Next he answers a viewer's question about what advice he would give to headteachers who are trying to balance their budgets alongside non-funded pay rises and increases in energy prices.

He says schools have done a great job in recent years in improving standards.

He adds he will announce decisions affecting schools and whether they will get extra money in his Autumn Statement on Thursday.

We are going to viewer questions now and Marie Casey asks for an honest assessment on where the problems in the economy are in part due to the impact of Brexit.

Hunt says he believes we can make a "tremendous success" of Brexit - but it's not going to happen automatically.

He says he does not accept that Brexit will "make us poorer".

He admits there are costs attached to leaving the EU but there are also opportunities and these were slowed by the​ pandemic.

He says he wants to promise to everyone he will be honest about the problems and fair in the approach we take.

He is asked why the UK is lagging behind major economies.

"This year we have the fastest growth in the G7 [rich nations]... We're catching up fast in that respect."

He says some 600,000 people have left the labour force as a result of the pandemic and we need to understand why that is because that is creating constraints for businesses.

Hunt adds he wants people to see that the government has a plan not just to deal with high energy prices, but also to grow the economy.

Kuenssberg asks Hunt if the UK is going into the global economic crisis worse off than other countries because the Conservative Party mismanaged the economy.

Hunt says: "There were mistakes in the mini-budget. I corrected those in three days of becoming chancellor."

He says these are global headwinds and he's confident the UK can weather the storm.

On the impact of the decisions he will make on Thursday, Jeremy Hunt says: "I think people will notice because these are difficult decisions, but they will also see there's a plan to get through this."

"I want people to understand, that although these are difficult decisions, we will be doing it in a way that means that we get through to the other side."

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says we are going to see everyone paying more tax.

He adds: "We are going to see spending cuts."

But he says we are a resilient country which has faced bigger challenges than in the past.

"We have a plan to see us through choppy waters," he says.

But he says he will make sure we protect the most vulnerable and tackle the biggest worry for those on low incomes which he says is the rising cost of their weekly shop and rising energy prices.

He says: "We will make the recession we are in as short and shallow as possible."

On the show first is Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

We’ll see if he’s preparing the ground for tax rises and public spending cuts in this week’s Autumn Statement.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg kicks off with a summary from Paul Johnson, director of the economics think tank the IFS, on the state of the UK economy.

He says the chancellor has some really tough choices as the Bank of England has told us we are in recession and likely to stay in recession for some time to come.

We've also got the highest inflation for 40 years and thr Bank has had to raise interest rates following the "disastrous" mini-budget of a couple of months ago, he says.

Johnson adds: "We are going to be looking at very high levels of borrowing and debt over the next several years."

Image source, .

A range of stories make the leads in today’s papers - although the state of the public finances and the cost of living make several appearances.

The Observer leads on the hit to the public purse of former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ mini-budget back in September. It says her 44-day tenure in No 10 doubled the gap between what the government gets in revenue and what it spends. According to the paper this figure has been estimated at £30bn and was caused in part by the decision to make unfunded cuts to national insurance and stamp duty - with the rest down to “unexpectedly bad economic conditions”.

Elsewhere, the Sunday Times leads on the liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian forces. The paper says that residents in the city, which was captured early in the war by Russia, were “euphoric” although some residents spoke of torture and fear or reprisals.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has written for the Sunday Telegraph in which he details a 10-point plan to “tackle the migrant crisis”. The paper says the government has promised to stop housing asylum-seekers in hotels, which it says costs the taxpayer billions.

And the Sunday People says that charites are set to lose up to £500,000 this Christmas as people who normally raise money by putting on huge light shows cancel their plans over "soaring energy costs".

• Read our full review of Sunday’s papers here

Ahead of the chancellor’s appearance on the programme, this week’s panel of Paul Johnson, Roula Khalaf and Sir Simon Schama are telling Laura Kuenssberg what they feel are the key matters to be addressed.

Then we’ll hear from Jeremy Hunt, followed by the chief of the defence staff on Remembrance Sunday, before we get Labour’s angle on the state of the economy and public finances from Rachel Reeves.

All this and more to come in the next hour.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is about to go on air shortly, and you can watch the programme without leaving this page by clicking on the play button in the picture above.

Stay with us for the latest news lines, quotes and video clips as we follow the show - which features this week Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, his Labour shadow Rachel Reeves and Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

The challenge facing Jeremy Huntpublished at 08:54 Greenwich Mean Time 13 November 2022

08:54 GMT 13 November 2022

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

This is a repair statement that seeks to complete the job of defusing the timebomb set off under the UK's finances by Liz Truss' mini-budget.

The central message of next week's Autumn Statement will be about "restoring stability" and "getting inflation down".

The challenge is to present a set of numbers that both add up and a set of policies that will actually pass through Parliament.

The lesson of the past few weeks is that these announcements have to be both economically and politically credible.

Independent forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility will finally see the light of day, having been first produced for the very first day of Kwasi Kwarteng's tenure in office.

Their repeated absence from earlier plans, is now identified by the new chancellor as the key reason for the recent chaos.

More now from the chancellor's interview on Sky News as he reveals more about his economic plans:

"I want to make sure that this recession - if we're in a recession - is as short and shallow as possible."

"That's the plan that I think will give people confidence," he adds.

He'll be speaking to Laura Kuenssberg just after 9am. Stay with us for full coverage of what he says.

Image source, Sky News

Ahead of his appearance on Sunday Morning with Laura Kuenssberg, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been speaking to Sky News this morning. He says he has to make "eye wateringly difficult decisions" on the economy.

But he says we are a resilient and compassionate country and the plan he will unveil on Thursday will get us through these difficult times.

He says he will tackle the biggest worry for pensioners which is the rising cost of bills and he will come up with a way to hold energy bills down.

He says: "We do have to do some tax rises, we do have to do some spending cuts if we are to show we are a country that pays our way."

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Image source, EPA

The Autumn Statement is expected to see the chancellor outline spending cuts of around £35bn and plans to raise some £20bn in tax over the coming years.

While the government won't confirm any of the decisions they have made so far the shape of the building blocks are clear.

We've already heard the chancellor say that in his view filling that hole between tax revenue and government spending is absolutely imperative after the chaos of early autumn.

There is an economic debate about the urgency and necessity for doing so but the position this government takes, that we'll no doubt hear from Hunt when he's on our show, is that they have no choice.

And from the moment he became chancellor he has said in sombre tones that means tax rises and squeezing spending.

It's always wise not to take a massive bet on any of the decisions until we see documents confirming the sums in black and white.

But after conversations with multiple sources, we can be clear about what to expect. In order to stick to the Conservatives' manifesto promise not to raise individual taxes the chancellor will instead repeat the trick of his predecessor.

He‘s expected to freeze the threshold where you start paying tax - so your wages might go up, but if the government doesn't also increase the level where you start paying tax, more of your cash will go to the taxman.

A higher levy on the profits of energy firms could also run to 2028 and is also expected to increase from 25% to 35% and some electricity generators will have to pay for the first time too.

Those are big decisions that will have big consequences, but the hope in government is raising all that cash will allow them to match rises to benefits and pensions with inflation.

One minister told me they'd be “very surprised” if the chancellor didn't give that guarantee this week. There's a huge amount at stake.

• Read the full story here