UK politics: Sunak refuses to say how abolition of national insurance would be funded – as it happened

Rishi Sunak during a Q&A event at a Wetherspoons pub in Maltby, near Rotherham. Photograph: Carl Recine/PA

6.02pm GMT

We are closing this blog now but you can read all our UK politics coverage here.

5.34pm GMT

Afternoon summary

• Rishi Sunak has refused to say how the Conservatives might fund their long-term proposal to abolish national insurance contributions for employees. (See 3.02pm.) Keir Starmer says this amounts to a commitment to a £46bn unfunded tax cut and that in floating the idea Sunak is repeating the same error made by Liz Truss in her mini-budget. (See 11.34am.)

• Jeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves are joined in a “conspiracy of silence” over tens of billions of pounds in tough tax and spending choices, with the next government likely to inherit the toughest outlook for the public finances in 80 years, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.

• Household incomes are on course to fall for the first time over the course of a parliament despite Jeremy Hunt’s national insurance cuts, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has said.

• Jeremy Hunt has promised to voluntarily pay more capital gains tax on his properties so that he does not benefit from a tax cut he introduced.

• Political parties accepted £93m in donations last year, boosted by new Conservative and Labour mega-donors, with the 2024 election on course to be the highest-spending contest ever.

• Grassroots Conservative supporters have lashed out at Jeremy Hunt’s budget as offering “nothing for working people” and “making things better for the rich”.