Ahead of Sunak’s landmark post-lockdown Budget due later this month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said that the Chancellor was on track to lift the UK’s tax burden to the highest sustained level in peacetime with a package of ‘manifesto-busting tax increases’ at this month’s Budget and spending review.

In its Green Budget assessment of the public finances, issued with economic forecasts from the investment bank Citi, the IFS said overall government spending was on track to settle at 42% of national income, about 2% higher than before the pandemic.