Jeremy Hunt will unveil his first Budget as Chancellor tomorrow amid a backdrop of mass industrial action, sky-high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Hunt will set out his Budget in the Commons at 12.30pm on Wednesday.
It’s only been a couple of months since Mr Hunt last did the Autumn Statement after being brought in to try to fix the economic chaos caused by Liz Truss.
The financial markets have calmed down since Ms Truss’s disastrous 49-day stint in No10 and the economic outlook is a little less gloomy, with a shorter and shallower downturn now expected.
But things are by no means rosy. Brits are still grappling with intense cost of living pressures, as inflation hovers near a 40-year high.
Mr Hunt will deliver his Budget statement as industrial action across multiple sectors continues.
Teachers will walk out across England and Wales on the same day as the Budget, alongside 100,000 civil servants.
The Chancellor doesn’t have a lot of room for manoeuvre despite the economic forecasts offering a glimmer of hope.
He is expected to focus on encouraging the over-50s, the long-term sick and disabled, and claimants back into the workplace.
Mr Hunt is unlikely to slash taxes - much to the disappointment of his own MPs. But hard-pressed Brits are unlikely to see much to celebrate.
The Treasury never officially confirms all the details of what’s in the Budget until the Chancellor is on his feet in the Commons.
But there’s always a mix of speculation and pre-announced measures in the run-up to the big day.
Here’s what to expect so far.
Energy bill help extended for three months
The Chancellor is expected to delay a £500 rise to energy bills for three months.
The Energy Price Guarantee was due to rise from its current level of £2,500-a-year for a typical household to £3,000 in April.
But Mr Hunt is now expected to pause the 20% rise until the summer, when wholesale gas costs are expected to fall, bringing down energy prices.
It is understood that suppliers have been asked to prepare for the move.
Consumer champion Martin Lewis and fuel poverty campaigners have been calling for the rise to be scrapped amid fears millions of people are teetering on the brink of poverty.
Pre-payment meters
Alongside the extended help on energy bills, further help will be announced for pre-payment meter customers.
Currently these customers - despite more of them being in lower income households - pay more on average than those on direct debits because of firms managing the metres and passing on the cost.
But from July, prepay customers will no longer pay more than direct debit households, in a move the Treasury says will save households £45 a year.
The Chancellor has described the practice as "unfair" and said the Government will "put an end" to it.
"From July four million households won't pay more than those on Direct Debits. We've already cut energy bills by almost half this winter, and this latest reform is proof again that we're always on the side of families," he said.
Corporation tax
The tax paid by businesses is expected to rise from 19% to 25% in April - after a lot of flip-flopping.
Rishi Sunak announced the hike when he was still the Chancellor in 2021. But Kwasi Kwarteng scrapped the hike in the mini-Budget last September, as part of a tax-slashing bonanza that triggered economic meltdown.
With her authority crumbling, Liz Truss then U-turned on the decision in October.
Jeremy Hunt is expected to go ahead with it. The corporation tax super-deduction will also end this month, which lets big businesses cut their tax bill by 25p for every £1 they invest.
Fuel duty freeze
Mr Hunt will spark an avalanche of fury if he ends a 12-year fuel duty freeze next Wednesday.
He is also under pressure to keep a 5p-per-litre cut, which was announced a year ago, in place. If he lifts both the freeze and the cut, drivers will end up paying around 12p-per-litre extra. It is very unlikely he will want to take the political hit.
Critics warn that hitting motorists at the pump will pile misery across all sectors of the economy, and the Chancellor will be keen not to do that.
Among the many voices calling for the fuel duty freeze to remain in place is AA president Edmund King, who said: “Drivers are out of the hurricane, but are still being lashed by the cost-of-living storm.
“It would be detrimental to put unnecessary strain on people by increasing fuel duty. Most goods and services are transported by road, so waving through higher pump prices onto logistics firms as well as the driving public will hurt everyone.
“Our message to the Chancellor is that hiking fuel duty will simply fuel inflation, so it is imperative that he keeps the fuel duty freeze for another year.”
Cigarettes and alcohol
Alcohol duties are added to the costs of beer, cider, spirits, and wine.
Currently there are differing rates for each product.
A new system - with drinks being taxed on how much alcohol they contain - will be introduced in the summer, but the exact amount is yet to be unveiled by the Treasury.
Reports have suggested the price of a 20 pack of cigarettes will rise by £1.15 - in line with the Retail Price Index - at the Budget.
Currently, the duty paid on cigarettes is 16.5% of the retail price plus an extra £5.26 on a packet of 20. The amount of duty paid on cigarettes usually increases with inflation each year unless the Chancellor intervenes.
'Back-to-work budget'
Mr Hunt is expected to brand this his 'back-to-work budget'.
The rising number of people signed off as long-term sick is a worry for the Treasury.
Latest data suggests there are as many as 2.5 million people signed off due to health conditions, and Mr Hunt is widely tipped to announce measures to bring this down.
it is expected that benefit claimants will be "encouraged" to move into work or increase their hours as a result of a Universal Credit shakeup.
Hundreds of thousands will have to attend more regular meetings with work coaches, while "skills bootcamps" will be expanded and the Work Capability Assessment will be scrapped.
The Chancellor could also choose to announce that people who return to work part-time will be able to continue claiming sickness benefit.
Childcare support
Another way the government can tackle the number of people out of work is to tackle childcare.
Mr Hunt is expected to announce that people on Universal Credit will be able to claim back more cash for childcare.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that to account for rising costs, the amount parents can claim would rise to £1,200 for one child - up from £646 - or £2,000 for two, rising from £1,108.
Reports have also suggested those on Universal Credit will recieve money for childcare in advance - instead of the existing system of claiming a refund on costs paid upfront.
Public sector pay
The Government has come in for a huge amount of criticism over its handling of public sector walkouts.
Hundreds of thousands of NHS staff, teachers and civil servants have taken part in strikes over a difficult winter that looks set to spill into the coming months.
The government has said existing department budgets only allow for a 3.5% public sector pay rise, but it would be very surprising for Mr Hunt not to come up with some more cash.
It is estimated that bringing this up to 5% could cost the Treasury an additional £4 billion.
Pensions
There is speculation the pension lifetime allowance could be raised at the Budget in a bid to stop professionals from retiring early.
The figure for most people is currently £1,073,100.
There are also questions over whether the Chancellor will bring forward the state pension age.
Earlier this year reports claimed the Government was considering raising the retirement age to 68 as early as 2035.
The current retirement age is 66 and will increase to 67 in 2028. However, a scheduled rise to 68 is not currently due until 2046. Mr Hunt ordered a review of the state pension age in the Autumn.
Cleaner energy
The Chancellor is expected to pledge to plough £1 billion-a-year into technology which can help capture carbon emissions.
Set to be billed as a “clean energy reset” at the Budget, the Treasury said it would help to create up to 50,000 highly skilled jobs.
The Government described the £20billion investment package - to be made available over 20 years - as “unprecedented”.
It also promised to “rapidly” announce the winners of a competition to build small nuclear power plants in the UK.
The focus on long-term energy independence comes after consumers were left exposed to sky-high bills in the wake of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Defence spending
As he jetted to San Diego, the Prime Minister told reporters he would boost the UK's defence budget by £5billion at the Budget.
But it's less than half of what the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace had demanded.
The PM said: “The UK is increasing its ambitions when it comes to defence spending.
"If you look at the track record, when I was Chancellor we announced the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, that’s something actually I worked on with the Defence Secretary. What we are announcing today builds on that.”
Mr Sunak will also set out an ambition to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in the “longer term”, which will be discussed with international allies this summer, No10 said.
