Rather than raise income tax rates which would have broken Labour’s manifesto pledge of not increasing the big three taxes on working people, the chancellor Rachel Reeves took the worst possible route freezing income tax thresholds endlessly into the future until April 2031, long after the next election will be over.

This means thresholds will have been frozen since 2021, when the pandemic first forced this policy upon taxpayers.

After years of this, it is expected that more than a million taxpayers will be dragged into higher rate tax as a result, with the 40% rate likely to be paid by near to five million workers.