The Perseverance rover is collecting rock samples from Mars to bring back to Earth

Concept illustration for research robots that could bring samples of Mars rocks to Earth-based labs. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

THE CONVERSATION
Published: October 30, 2022 

Hidden in the minerals and textures that make up rocks are clues about how and when they formed and were later altered. These changes can occur due to the presence of water-rich fluids and may also be influenced by biological processes.

We are planetary petrologists (rock scientists) and participating scientists on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission. Our research involves exploring and interpreting the data sent back by the Perseverance rover from its landing site in Jezero Crater.
A mysterious lake

Orbital images show that Jezero Crater was once the site of a standing body of water. It held a lake that was fed by water from an ~170 km-long river channel, and images show a delta — a fan-shaped platform of sediment — at the mouth of the channel. This delta is made up of layers of finer sediments mixed with boulder-rich layers that suggest that the river flow fluctuated from relatively calm conditions to large floods.

More of a mystery, however, were rock units exposed in Jezero Crater’s floor, where Perseverance landed on Feb. 18, 2021. Of particular interest was an enigmatic unit, identified by the presence of olivine its spectral signatures (measurements of the amount of radiation it reflects).


A panorama of Brac, captured by the Mastcam-Z camera system aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover between Nov. 6 and 17, 2021. The panorama is made up of a total of 64 images stitched together after being sent back to Earth. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS)

Evidence of history

Olivine is a vitreous, green mineral (its gem variety is peridot) that usually crystallizes in high-temperature magmas. In contrast, carbonate minerals can form from high to low temperatures, usually from melts or fluids that may have been favourable for life.

The olivine-rich unit is widespread in the region beyond Jezero, covering approximately 70,000 square kilometres, and exposed within the crater just to the north and west of Perseverance’s landing site, in a region dubbed Séítah.

Séítah (meaning “amidst the sand” in Navajo) is covered by a network of sand dunes, making it difficult for the rover to navigate. However, it was considered a compelling target for understanding the history of this region of Mars and because its carbonate minerals could preserve evidence of ancient life.

Perseverance entered Séítah in September 2021 and readily confirmed the occurrence of olivine by its remote-sensing instruments. The microscopic cameras saw two- to three-millimeter olivine grains, but their origin was unknown.

On Earth, olivine grains of this size and shape may be concentrated by various geologic ways, including as wind- or water-borne sands sourced from olivine-rich regions, explosive volcanic eruptions, material ejected by meteorite impact, or they can form as crystals in cooling magma.

Additional information was needed to interpret the history of the olivine, but engineering challenges initially impeded the mission’s ability to use its X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer on Séítah rocks

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A close-up of a rock named Dourbes, taken by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the robotic arm aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

Sophisticated equipment

XRF spectrometers have been important instruments for determining the elemental compositions (sodium to iron, and some trace elements) of rock surfaces on Mars.

Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometers (APXS) onboard Pathfinder, the two Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity provided bulk chemistries of ~1.5 cm circular spots that helped geologic interpretations.

But for some Martian rocks, uncertainties have lingered about small-scale features and fine rock textures that are critical for interpreting what minerals are present, whether they are igneous or sedimentary, or their alteration histories.

The PIXL onboard Perseverance is a big improvement in this regard: PIXL generates ~120 micron grid maps that not only provide rock and mineral chemistries, but textures that can be used to infer the origin, processes and relative timing of the various minerals and other components present.

The first PIXL scan of a rock surface at a Séítah outcrop called Brac finally nailed the unit’s origin as igneous. The olivine grains are well-formed crystals with straight edges. Other high-temperature minerals, including feldspar, and larger minerals enclose or occur in the spaces between the olivine crystals, indicating slow cooling of a magma.

Brac is a type of rock called an olivine cumulate that formed when olivine crystallized near the top of a magma, and settled and accumulated downward due to its higher density. Olivine cumulates are well known to form on Mars because they are found among the Martian meteorites, comprising a group known as chassignites, that was ejected from Mars by an impact event and eventually fell to Earth.

On Earth, olivine cumulates occur in large layered intrusions, such as the Skaergaard Intrusion in East Greenland, and in thick lava flows, such as found in the Abitibi, Ont. area.

Recorded video of Mars by the Perseverance rover.

Anticipating core samples

As remarkable as the PIXL scans are, Perseverance is equipped with a very sophisticated sampling tool, which it used to collect cores of Brac. At least one of these core samples will likely be brought to Earth in the early 2030s as part of the Mars Sample Return effort.

Mars Sample Return would enable researchers at Earth-based labs to examine features down to the nanoscale, which could yield information about crystallization history, water activity in the rock and how long the rock was exposed. This could provide clues about the history of life on Mars.

Radiometric isotopic analyses would help pinpoint the timing of crystallization. Stable isotopes (H, C, N, O) would tell us about the history of fluids on Mars. The list goes on and on!

Returned samples would enable us to answer the questions that are hinted at by the the recent PIXL results. We could then provide a fuller history of the olivine and carbonate-rich rocks in Jezero, and what they tell us about Mars’ history and potential for life.

Authors

Mariek Schmidt
Associate Professor, Earth Sciences, Brock University

Mariek Schmidt receives funding from Canadian Space Agency Mars 2020 Participating Scientist Grant and from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Chris Herd
Professor, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Chris Herd receives funding from the Canadian Space Agency Mars 2020 Returned Sample Science Participating Scientist Program, and from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

'This is what we call "coming full circle"': Canadians, world react to Rishi Sunak as the new UK prime minister

Abhya Adlakha

·Editor, Yahoo News Canada

Wed, October 26, 2022 

Rishi Sunak was installed as Britain's third prime minister of the year by King Charles on Tuesday, and will next appoint a cabinet that will have to wrestle with the U.K.'s economic and political crises.

Sunak emerged over former leader Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt in the truncated process to replace Liz Truss as leader. He was the only candidate with confirmed support from more than 100 lawmakers, the number needed to run in the election, with his backers claiming he has been endorsed by more than half of the 357 Conservative lawmakers in Parliament.

However, the elevation of the 42-year-old Indian-origin Tory leader - his parents migrated from East Africa to the UK - as the third British prime minister this year appears to have gladdened the hearts of many Indians. Even the sceptics cannot help but feel a tad triumphant.

Many Canadians, too, pointed out that the UK had come "full circle" with the first South Asian holding office in the UK.

Yet, at the same time, people couldn't help but notice Rishi Sunak's wealth.

This year, The Times of London estimated that Mr. Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, were worth more than $800 million, placing them among the 250 wealthiest British people or families. According to the report, the source of his wealth comes from a technology and hedge fund. Due to this, questions have swirled about whether, given his wealth, the multimillionaire and prime minister could relate to ordinary Britons grappling with a cost-of-living crisis.

Here is how many Canadians reacted to the news.

Man….after the British ruled India, who would ever have imagined a Hindu Prime Minister there named on Diwali of all days!

Gandhiji would be really proud today! Congrats @RishiSunak pic.twitter.com/OpP2uabAo2

— Dr. Crypto ® (@askthedr) October 24, 2022

More reactions from around the world:

Sunak will now be moving into a Downing Street besieged by a colossal horde of problems. Britain’s rampant inflation and rocketing energy and food prices have thrown the economy into chaos, a menace made worse by Truss’ disastrous handling of public finances, which has left the nation’s fiscal reputation in urgent need of repair. Sunak will also likely be forced to preside over unpopular spending cuts at a time when workers in key sectors including transport and health are already striking over pay.

UK

YouGov polling shows Labour gaining ground in south Essex

By Lewis Berrill@LewisBerrill

Senior Reporter
29th October

Election predictions - Could south Essex's Tories be in trouble? 

THE POLITICAL battle lines have been drawn in south Essex amid talk of a potential general election which could see a number of sitting MPs lose their jobs in Westminster.

The area, long a Tory stronghold, may be set for big changes according to a recent YouGov Pol.


South Essex’s seven constituencies have all been held by Conservative MPs since the 2010 Boundary Commission changes and the abolishment of the constituency of Basildon.

But the area may be set for its first Labour MP in more than a decade if a general election is called.

YouGov interviewed over 12,000 voters across the country asking who would make a better PM, Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer.

The results are shocking, with the model showing voters preferred Keir Starmer in 389 constituencies, Rishi Sunak in 127, and voters saying they were “not sure” in 116.

Just Rayleigh and Wickford and Castle Point remain blue, with Southend West in favour of Keir Starmer (Image: YouGov)

In one of the major shocks, the model predicts Southend West could elect a Labour MP for the first time since the constituency’s creation in 1950.

Southend Labour councillor Matt Dent reckons his party has been presented with its “greatest opportunity in 70 years” to turn the seat red.

“It’s not surprising with what we have seen from the Conservative government from the last few years and especially months,” he said.

“The party and in-fighting have overshadowed the national interest, the economy and living standards are in the toilet, and people have quite simply had enough.”

Mark Francois’s seat in Rayleigh and Wickford and Rebecca Harris’ in Castle Point are the only south Essex seats the model is confident will stay blue.

The rest returned a majority answer of “not sure” with just a couple of percentage points separating Labour and the Tories in Thurrock and Rochford and Southend East.

“If I were one of these Tory MPs, I would be thinking about lining myself up a new job,” Basildon councillor and former UKIP parliamentary candidate Kerry Smith said.

“The constituencies along the Thames Estuary have been Tory for so long, but it looks like they may be losing their grip.”

Charlie Sansom, former chairman of South Basildon Conservatives, says he is sceptical of the results, adding that for many people in Essex “voting blue overrides anything else”.

“However, the problem the Tories may have is that many people are annoyed that MPs have coronated a new leader, rather than the electorate voting for one,” he said.

Mr Sansom, who quit the party last year, added: “I can see Thurrock going red in the next election, considering the socio-economic background of the area and the drop-off of the Brexit effect.”

LABOUR IS RED 

Just Rayleigh and Wickford and Castle Point remain blue, with Southend West in favour of Keir Starmer (Image: YouGov)

The poll results come as new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to fix the “mistakes” of Liz Truss’s leadership.

The freshly appointed Conservative leader warned the UK is facing a “profound economic crisis” in his first speech after being asked to form a Government by the King.

Addressing the nation on Tuesday morning, Mr Sunak, 42, was critical of his predecessor, whose 49 days in office made her the shortest-lasting PM in history.

“Some mistakes were made. Not born of ill will or bad intentions – quite the opposite in fact. But mistakes nonetheless,” he said.

“I’ve been elected as leader of my party and your Prime Minister in part to fix them – and that work begins immediately.”

UK

Food bank charity launches first-ever emergency appeal after using up all ‘reserve stock’

The Trussell Trust is warning of its "hardest winter yet" as it says its food banks are "struggling to meet a tsunami of demand".

 Emily Sergeant - 20th October 2022

The UK’s leading food bank charity has launched an emergency appeal for the first time in its history to meet a “devastating rise in need”.

With the rising cost of living crisis sadly continuing to make its impact felt nationwide, and inflation currently at a 40-year UK high, The Trussell Trust is warning of its “hardest winter yet” as it says its food banks up and down the country are “struggling to meet a tsunami of demand” – which was now outstripping donations.

The charity says it has already used up the “reserve stock” that would normally help maintain supplies across the winter months at its 1,300 food bank centres.

Food banks are having to purchase three times as much food as they did last year, according to the charity, and on top of that, the trust has distributed 46% more emergency food parcels in August and September than at the same time in 2021.

The Trussell Trust is now calling on the government to “do what’s right” by providing a package of support that’s “directly targeted at people on the lowest incomes”.

Launching the emergency appeal and urging the government to lend a hand, Emma Revie – CEO of The Trussell Trust – said: “We never wanted to run an appeal like this, we would rather there was no need for food banks at all, but right now, they are on the frontline of this cost of living emergency and we have no other option.

“Faced with the perfect storm of rising energy prices, inflation and a potential recession that is pushing people deeper into poverty, the soaring cost of living is driving a tsunami of need to food banks.

“Through this emergency appeal, we hope to raise the vital funds required to ensure that food banks can meet this devastating rise in need”.

The Trussell Trust has launched an emergency appeal to meet a “devastating rise in need” / Credit: The Trussell Trust

Ms Revie says the trust’s main aim is to “continue to support people experiencing hardship.”

Read more:

• Cost of living crisis meant one million UK adults went an ‘entire day without food’ last month
• Some UK hospitals have had to set up foodbanks for NHS staff in need
• 2,600 emergency food parcels were provided for children every day during pandemic

The Trussell Trust’s first-ever emergency appeal comes after recent research by consumer group Which? has revealed that millions of families are having to change their shopping and eating habits as they struggle with rising cost

Among those struggling the most, 50% even admitted their household was skipping meals.

Featured Image – The Trussell Trust

WALES IS SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC

‘New era of austerity threat to Wales due to UK Government’ says Finance Minister

25 Oct 2022 

PA video grab image of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt speaking to the nation from the Treasury in London, during an emergency statement as he confirmed he is ditching many of the measures in the mini-budget, including the planned cut to income tax. Picture date: Monday October 17, 2022.

Wales is facing a new era of damaging austerity cuts because of the UK Government’s mismanagement of the economy, Finance Minister Rebecca Evans has said.

The combination of soaring inflation which is eroding the Welsh Government’s budget, and spending cuts threatened by the latest Chancellor of the Exchequer, could starve public services of funding, stifle economic growth and lead to job losses, she said.

The Welsh Government’s budget is now worth up to £4bn less in real terms than it was when the three-year funding settlement was set last year, their own figures show.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has said that all UK Government departments must redouble efforts to find savings and warned some areas of spending will be cut to fill the hole created in UK public finances by the fallout from the mini-budget a month ago.

This could mean more cuts in funding for the Welsh Government, as it prepares its draft Budget, which is set to be published on 13 December.

The Chancellor is due to produce his medium-term fiscal plan on 31 October.

Speaking at a Welsh Government press conference later today, the Finance Minister will warn against another round of destructive austerity and outline alternative options the Chancellor could take to boost growth and support public services.

Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government, is expected to say: “By announcing reckless uncosted tax cuts for the rich, the UK Government lost control of the economy. Now the new Chancellor wants us all to pay for its failures with deep spending cuts.

“We are facing a new damaging era of austerity, which would threaten jobs, businesses and public services.

“The Chancellor could protect public services by using his tax levers more fairly and increase investment to get the economy moving in the right direction. He could help people pay their bills by increasing benefits in line with inflation.

“As we look ahead to our Budget, we need the UK Government to take action to avoid the type of destructive austerity that will further damage our economy and the public services so many of us rely on.”

‘Difficult’

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who was brought in to steady Ms Truss’s ailing Government and has been working towards a highly-anticipated Halloween fiscal statement, is widely expected to keep the keys to No 11 under Rishi Sunak to try to stabilise the jittery markets.

He has warned of “eye-wateringly difficult” decisions on tax and spending signalled a shift away from Boris Johnson’s 2019 promise of an end of austerity.

Yesterday he tweeted: “This is a time for honesty about the huge economic challenges we face, and courage in addressing them. We have a PM who can be trusted to do just that”.

Last week, Jeremy Hunt said universal energy support for households, which has capped bills for a typical household to £2,500 a year, will end after six months and then be replaced by more targeted support.

Mr Hunt also scrapped a number of policy announcements from predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, such as plans to reverse a proposed corporation tax rise, after it had resulted in a sell-off of Government bonds, called gilts.

ALL TORIES KNOW IS AUSTERITY
UK Autumn Statement
Deep cuts ahead to tackle ‘massive black hole’
Terry Murden, Editor | October 28, 2022

Jeremy Hunt: will usher in new austerity package

NOTHING NEW WITH AUSTERITY

Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have been engrossed in discussions over a “massive fiscal black hole” in the public finances that contributed to delaying the Halloween fiscal plan.

The prime minister is now targeting up to £50 billion in spending cuts and tax rises in what will be a full Autumn Statement on 17 November. 

TAX INCREASES ON THE WORKING CLASS NOT THE RICH

A revision of the Chancellor’s plan follows expectations that the Office for Budget Responsibility will add to warnings of recession next year.

Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt are now accepting the country is facing some stark truths about the state of the economy and the ability of the public finances to meet expectations as lower taxes result from slowing growth.

There is a possibility of a reversal of Ms Truss’s guarantee to protect the triple lock on pensions, that would give pensioners a 10.1% rise based on September’s inflation figure.

The Chancellor has spoken to a number of his predecessors, including George Osborne who brought in austerity measures in the coalition government more than a decade ago.

The OBR has yet to provide final forecasts but will significantly downgrade its 1.8% growth forecast in March.

While government borrowing costs have fallen somewhat in recent days, officials warned Mr Hunt and Mr Sunak that they remain considerably elevated as global interest rates also rise.

The interest rate – or yield – on 10-year UK government debt is just over 10 basis points higher than before the mini-budget.

Transport, police and housing could face 9 per cent cuts as Britain enters 'new era of austerity' under Rishi Sunak's plan to save £50bn

The new PM and Chancellor may choose instead for tax rises


Damon Wilkinson

Reporter
Sophie Wingate

30 OCT 2022

Rishi Sunak (Image: PA)

Many public services could be stripped to the bone if Rishi Sunak freezes spending, a think tank has warned. Per-person spending in departments such as transport, justice and local government could be slashed by up to 9 per cent, according to research by the Resolution Foundation, which focuses on living standards.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are considering up to £50 billion of spending cuts and tax hikes to fill a gaping black hole in the nation's finances. While a real-terms freeze in day-to-day public service spending would save around £20 billion a year by 2026-27, the impact would be huge.

It would come as public service budgets remain below pre-austerity levels and are under significant pressure as inflation soars past 10%. Prices rising far higher than expected when three-year budgets were set in October 2021 has meant an effective £22 billion real-terms reduction in their public service spending power, according to the Foundation.

Some have seen planned spending rises turned into cuts, with real-terms education spending going from an increase of £1.5 billion in 2024-25 from this year to a cut of £1 billion. James Smith, Resolution Foundation research director, said: "Significant reductions in day-to-day public service spending are on the cards, while protecting areas such as health and defence. This would repeat a key option chosen by Conservative-led governments since 2010.

"Freezing such spending in real terms would save £20 billion a year but mean a further 9% budget cut to public services such as transport, policing and housing, and take Britain into a new era of austerity. Given the political ramifications of such a move, the new PM and Chancellor may choose instead for tax rises to fill in far more of the current fiscal hole than their Conservative predecessors in Downing Street did."

Mr Sunak has pledged to put 'fairness at the heart' of the November 17 budget. "The Chancellor has already said of course difficult decisions are going to have to be made and I’m going to sit down and work through those with him," he said on Friday.

The pair delayed the financial statement by more than two weeks from Halloween as public finances appeared in a worse shape after Liz Truss's leadership. Mr Hunt has sought the advice of George Osborne, the architect of austerity in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, as he sounds out Conservative predecessors over his upcoming autumn budget.

Sunak prepares scorched earth UK November budget

Robert Stevens

WSWS.ORG

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is readying a UK autumn budget based on up to £50 billion in spending cuts or tax rises.

According to reports it is set to be more devastating for the working class than Conservative government budgets imposed by then Chancellor George Osborne between 2010–16, dubbed by his Prime Minister David Cameron the “age of austerity”, which led to the excess deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

Sunak’s Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was brought into government nine days ago at the behest of the financial markets and Bank of England, in the last days of the short-lived Truss government, in order to tear up her unfunded tax giveaway budget for big business and replace it with “eye-wateringly” brutal austerity. Naming his new cabinet this week, Sunak ensured Hunt remained in place.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss appoints Jeremy Hunt as her new Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Cabinet Room of No. 10 Downing Street. October 14, 2022 [Photo by Andrew Parsons/No 10 Downing Street / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

Hunt intended to unveil a debt-cutting austerity plan on October 31, but on Wednesday this was put back to November 17 on the basis that it would become a standard Autumn Statement—in all essentials a full budget.

The Financial Times pointed out that Hunt was able to do this as he had thrown out his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s giveaways entirely based on borrowing, thus immediately lowering government borrowing costs in the bond markets. The “calmer markets” had given “the government some economic breathing space”, it stated.

On Thursday, the Telegraph reported an assessment by the Resolution Foundation that, based on “the interest rate paid on government gilts reducing rapidly – and the international gas price falling… the delay of the fiscal statement would save the Treasury between £10 billion and £15 billion. Ministers had been facing an estimated black hole in the Treasury’s finances of about £35 billion.” The newspaper declared, “there is growing confidence in Downing Street that more minor changes to public finances than previously thought may be necessary.”

Within 24 hours all projections of smaller cuts were blown out of the water, with three national newspapers and the BBC reporting that the spending cuts and tax rises required would be “up to £50 billion a year.”

Relaying the government’s real intentions and allaying the markets, the FT reported, “Ministers were alarmed some media coverage on Thursday suggested that swingeing spending cuts and tax rises could be avoided on November 17, because of an improved outlook for government borrowing costs.” All four media outlets cited a “Treasury source” insisting, “Markets have calmed somewhat, but the picture is still bleak… People should not underestimate the scale of this challenge, or how tough the decisions will have to be. We’ve seen what happens when governments ignore this reality.”

The government calculated that a delay in its budget plans would mean the Office for Budget Responsibility would base forecasts not on data that included the economic volatility of Truss’s time in office, but on calmer conditions. However, in reporting the new £50 billion cuts plan Friday, the Times noted, “The OBR has yet to provide final forecasts but is expected to downgrade significantly its March forecast of growth of 1.8 percent next year. The Bank of England and other forecasters are now expecting a recession and the OBR may follow suit.”

The cost of borrowing is still much more expensive for the government than at the beginning of the year, with the Times pointing out, “Although yesterday ten-year gilt yields were back at similar levels to before Truss’s mini-budget, at about 3.5 percent, this compares to 1.5 percent in March.”

The FT reported, “The huge [upcoming] budgetary tightening of about 2 percent of gross domestic product would be the equivalent of chancellor George Osborne’s austerity Budget of 2010 if most of the amount was secured through spending cuts.” It added, “Sunak and Hunt met on Thursday to discuss the ‘pretty grim’ fiscal outlook”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (centre) at the first Cabinet meeting in 10 Downing Street the morning after assuming office. October 26, 2022, London. [Photo by Number 10 Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

Everything is being considered for the axe, including welfare benefits and the state pension, relied on by tens of millions, by keeping payment increases well below the rate of inflation. According to Bloomberg’s Alex Wickham and Joe Mayes, based on sources at the Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility, “The government has drawn up a menu of 104 options to cut spending to get public finances back onto a sustainable track.”

The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope commented Wednesday that he was told by “informed sources that the plans worked up by the Chancellor show that the Treasury is looking at double-digit spending cuts across the board for all departments. One said that Mr Hunt has pencilled in cuts between 10 percent and 15 percent.”

Hunt, who carried out brutal cuts as health secretary (2012-2018) in the Cameron/May governments—demanding £22 billion in cuts—declared after ripping up Kwarteng’s budget “I’m going to be asking every government department to find further efficiency savings.” On Thursday, the Times reported that Hunt met with Osborne, “as he draws up an autumn statement expected to set out painful spending cuts and tax rises.”

Sunak and Hunt have been careful not to adhere to any previous spending commitments including a manifesto pledge to maintain the state pension “triple lock.”

Maintaining the triple lock means the state pension and pension credit benefit rise each year in line with the highest of three possible figures: CPI inflation, average earnings, or 2.5 percent. CPI inflation currently stands at 10.1 percent.

Were the budget only to increase benefits in line with earnings, they will rise by just 5.5 percent, costing the poorest around £7 billion annually. According to the Resolution Foundation, tying to earnings would result in annual savings of £5.6 billion if applied to the state pension and pension credit. An additional £2.4 billion would be cut from public spending if the formula was applied to working-age benefits such as universal credit.

Given the importance of the vote of pensioners to the collapsing electoral position of the Conservatives, and with some of the party’s MPs pledged to vote against a budget that axes the triple lock, Tory-backing newspapers are demanding larger cuts elsewhere instead. On Friday the rabidly right-wing Daily Express launched a front-page campaign calling on readers to “Join Crusade to Save Triple Lock”.

Central to these populist calculations is that the government has already saved at least £1.6 billion in pension costs due to the mass deaths of over-65s during the pandemic. Hundreds are still dying from COVID every week, the overwhelming majority pensioners.

According to Office for Budget Responsibility data published in March 2021, with 144,000 lives already lost at that stage to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the Treasury had factored in paying £1.5 billion less in state pensions. The OBR stated that “with virus-related deaths rising sharply again in recent months, we have revised up the number of excess pensioner-age deaths in 2020-21 from 90,000 in our November forecast to around 100,000 in this one.” As a result, spending on pensions fell by £600 million in 2020/21 and £900 million in 2021/22, relative to its March 2020 forecast.

Since March last year COVID deaths have surged to over 209,000, with tens of thousands more pensioners dead.

Savage austerity is being imposed on a working class already bled white. Out of a 68 million UK population, 14.5 million people live in poverty, including 8.1 million working-age adults, 4.3 million children and 2.1 million pensioners.

Research published in September by the Legatum Institute found that even if the previous energy cap on annual average bills stayed at £1,971, another 1.3 million people would be thrown into poverty. Under measures enacted by Truss, average household prices were capped at £2,500. In junking Kwarteng’s budget, Hunt ditched plans to extend the cap beyond next April, when bills are predicted to shoot up to over £4,300 annually.

The most accurate level of inflation, RPI, is heading towards 13 percent, but this is being outstripped by food inflation which has soared to 14.5 percent. For the poorest who rely on budget food items it is even worse, with the cost of these rising by 17 percent.