“It’s looking increasingly likely that we’ll see a U-turn on at least some of the manifesto – likely through income tax increases to plug the funding gap in the nation’s coffers, even if it’s dampened for some by a reduction in employees’ NIC.

“There’s a clear signal to taxpayers and their advisors that change is afoot. Although some changes cannot take effect until the new tax year, some could be implemented immediately – we could even see an income tax rate rise effectively ‘from when the Chancellor sits down’. It’s happened before, just not recently.

“For some time, many commentators have signalled that simply ‘tinkering’ with other taxes won’t raise anywhere near enough revenue, and that at least one of the ‘big three’ revenue-earning taxes must move. It now seems the Chancellor is conceding to that uncomfortable reality.

“Today’s speech is a fairly unprecedented ‘rolling of the pitch’ ahead of an arguably already delayed Budget. It has fuelled speculation for weeks, potentially having a negative impact on economic activity – which may well be the reason for today’s speech.”

– Johnthan Dudley, Head of Manufacturing and SME Corporates at Crowe UK