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The Chancellor will deliver his Spring Statement today, on Wednesday, at around 12.30pm. He said this would unveil a plan for “a stronger, more secure economy for the United Kingdom”.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak was pictured leaving Downing Street on his way to the Commons just before 11am.<\/p>\n
At this moment, the BBC’s outgoing Political Editor hinted the Chancellor may have been about to unveil more than he was letting on.<\/p>\n
She wrote in a post on Twitter: “Look carefully, Sunak is holding two documents.<\/p>\n
“[There are] whispers he’ll unveil a separate economic plan or strategy alongside the statement.”<\/p>\n
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The wording on the second – beyond the Government’s crest – is covered by the first.<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak hinted yesterday that the Spring Statement itself would only form part of the Government’s plans to advance the economy.<\/p>\n
He said: “Delivering greater economic security for our people, accelerating growth and productivity and making sure the proceeds of that growth are shared fairly.<\/p>\n
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“That is not the work of any one statement. But that work begins tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
Jill Rutter, a former civil servant, responding to Ms Kuenssberg, questioned whether the Chancellor might be about to deliver a “long-term tax strategy”.<\/p>\n
She added that “the need for one” was a “big theme” in a recent report on ‘Better Budgets’.<\/p>\n
Peter Hourston, Research Assistant at the Institute for Government, said a separate economic plan would be unnecessary given the recent publication of its “levelling up” white paper.<\/p>\n
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He asked: “Or does the Government need two economic plans?”<\/p>\n
The statement comes amid fears of a cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n
Energy regulator Ofgem recently announced a 54 percent rise in the maximum allowed customer energy price which will come into force at the beginning of April.<\/p>\n
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Reports suggest Mr Sunak has considered cutting fuel duty in an attempt to lessen this burden.<\/p>\n
He described this – an excise tax on the sale of fuel – as “one of the biggest bills that people face”.<\/p>\n
But critics have suggested such a cut would not go far enough to dampen the damage caused by rising costs.<\/p>\n