The government is raking in record tax receipts as the country faces the highest tax burden in 70 years and inflation has halved to 4.6% from last year’s high of 11%.

This has given the government at least £10bn in headroom which it has already said will be focused on tax breaks for businesses, a push to encourage innovation and research, and campaign to get unemployed people back into work.

Speaking at the CBI conference, the PM Rishi Sunak said ‘his argument has never been that we shouldn’t cut taxes, it’s been that we can only cut taxes once we have controlled inflation and debt’.

Sunak tempered his comments with indications that tax cuts could come ‘over time’, perhaps indicating that announcements will be held until the Budget in March.

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