MILLIONS of Brits were braced for tax breaks today as Rishi Sunak delivers a mini-Budget to cushion the cost of living onslaught.
The Chancellor is poised to slash fuel duty by 5p while also shielding scores of lower earners from the looming National Insurance hike next month.
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He is also preparing to dangle the juicy prospect of an income tax cut in the future so workers can pocket more of their cash.
Against a devastating backdrop of rocketing energy, fuel and food prices, the Chancellor is on his feet unveiling his Spring Statement in Parliament.
Better-than-expected finances give Mr Sunak headroom to once again throw a lifeline to families struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table.
But he will likely refuse to blow the entire £20billion windfall and said he had to pull the Treasury coffers onto an even keel after the pandemic.
In key Spring Statement announcements:
- Drivers are on the cusp of paying less for petrol as fuel duty will be finally slashed
- Workers are likely to benefit from the change to National Insurance contributions
- The price of a pack of cigarettes will not rise, with no changes to tobacco duty
- Booze will also stay the same price after alcohol duty was left untouched
- Mr Sunak braced for an inflation whack of 7.4 per cent this year
Mr Sunak ignored a legion of calls to scrap the 1.25 percentage point NICs increase that will see the average earner fork out £252 extra a year.
Instead he raised the NICs threshold from £9,000 to £12,000, letting workers keep more of their cash and disproportionately helping lower earners.
Drivers were also given a welcome break at the petrol pumps as the 57.95p fuel duty was cut by 5p for the first time in a decade.
Mr Sunak said: “Today I can announce that for only the second time in 20 years, fuel duty will be cut. Not by 1, not even by 2, but by 5 pence per litre.
“The biggest cut to all fuel duty rates – ever. And while some have called for the cut to last until August, I have decided it will be in place until March next year – a full 12 months.”
In a major victory for The Sun’s 12-year Keep It Down campaign, motorists will save around £3.30 every time they fill their cars.
Mr Sunak was left with little choice but to help offset the soaring oil and gas prices driven by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Figures show the average cost of a litre of petrol today was a record 167.3p, while diesel was 179.7p.
Mad Vlad’s invasion is also hiking prices at home as inflation today surged to a 30-year high of 6.2 per cent.
The Chancellor warned this will rise to an average of 7.4 per cent in the coming months.
While promising to “stand with Ukraine”, Mr Sunak told MPs: “The actions we have taken to sanction Putin’s regime are not cost free for us at home. The invasion of Ukraine presents a risk to our recovery.”
Vowing to protect families, Mr Sunak told the Commons: “So when I talk about security, yes, I mean responding to the war in Ukraine,” he is poised to tell the House of Commons.
“But I also mean the security of a faster-growing economy, the security of more resilient public finances, and security for working families as we help with the cost of living.”
The Chancellor has already announced a £200 loan for gas and electricity payments from October – although not until the price cap jumps 54 per cent.
Certain households will also get a £150 council tax rebate in April.
The Treasury said the measures announced so far add up to around £21 billion of support this year, taking in the rebate, changes to Universal Credit.
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