Latest Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates put the cost of Coronavirus government debt at £384bn, but with the economy still not firing on all four cylinders and job and business prospects uncertain, the eventual cost could be even greater.

How this is going to be paid for is likely to be the focus of the November Budget. Scrapping marginal rate income tax relief on pensions savings could be one way to claw back some of the government’s munificence.

The principle behind pension savings tax relief is that in return for depriving themselves of income earned today, so that they may have retirement income many decades later, the taxpayer may defer tax on pension savings until pension income is drawn.