Hunt's bold plan to 'get Britain growing': Jeremy Hunt 'will cut National Insurance payments for 28m Brits, hand businesses tax breaks and give OAPs an extra £18 a week' as he gambles on growth in bumper Autumn Statement TODAY

Jeremy Hunt will vow to 'get Britain growing' today as he makes the Tories' pitch to voters by cutting taxes and cracking down on the workshy.

In a crucial Autumn Statement, the Chancellor will draw battle lines for a long election struggle by starting to reduce the eye-watering burden on businesses and families.

He is expected to cut National Insurance in a move that will benefit 28million Brits, as well as making permanent a £10billion-a-year tax break for firms.

There will be good news for state pensioners, with the triple-lock honoured in full - meaning an 8.5 per cent hike, equivalent to around £18 a week for most.

Benefits will also be increased by 6.7 per cent after Mr Hunt backed away from using a lower uprating figure - but up to two million disability claimants will face tougher rules on finding work where possible.

Duties on beer, wine and spirits, and pubs and bars are widely predicted to be frozen, while bars could have their 75 per cent business rates holiday extended. 

The Cabinet is meeting this morning to be briefed on the contents of the package, with Mr Hunt handed some wriggle room by bigger-than-anticipated tax revenues and easing inflation.

However, the fiscal position remains incredibly tight, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) watchdog likely to downgrade forecasts for economic growth and the Bank of England warning that the inflation threat has not disappeared.  

Mr Hunt is expected to declare that the economy is 'back on track' as part of his statement when he takes to the Commons later on Wednesday. 

Mr Hunt has also signed off an 8.5 per cent increase in the state pension, in line with the so-called 'triple lock', increasing the value of the new state pension by £17.33 a week – or more than £900 a year.

The Chancellor will say that ministers are charting a new course on the economy and rejecting 'big government' in the wake of the Covid pandemic and a global spike in energy prices, which have driven both Government borrowing and the tax burden to record levels.

'Conservatives know that a dynamic economy depends less on the decisions and diktats of ministers than on the energy and enterprise of the British people,' he will say. 

'In today's Autumn Statement for Growth, the Conservatives will reject big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth, not more.'

Treasury sources said today's package would be targeted at boosting Britain's flagging economic growth rate. 

The biggest ticket item will be a permanent extension of the so-called 'full expensing' scheme, which allows firms to offset the cost of capital investment against corporation tax.  

Sources said the £10billion-a-year scheme was 'the biggest business tax cut in modern British history'.

Most of today's statement will focus on growth, including measures to encourage pension funds to invest in the UK and plans to offer families living near the pylons needed to upgrade the national grid up to £1,000 a year off energy bills.

Mr Hunt predicts the measures will 'increase business investment in the UK economy by around £20billion a year over the next decade'.

Levies on beer, wine and spirits are expected to be frozen - having only been overhauled in August.

A 75 per cent business rates holiday for pubs and bars is also set to be extended, giving publicans a much-needed boost.

The Chancellor is also expected to reduce the rate of national insurance for employees and the self-employed, which would benefit 28million workers. 

A one percentage point cut would cost £5billion and save those earning £50,000 or more around £380 a year.

However, there is not expected to be any movement to the National Insurance and tax thresholds, which have been frozen until April 2028.

Critics have accused the Government of imposing a 'stealth tax' on people that will see them paying more NI contributions should wages increase.

Reductions in personal taxation are expected to be modest, with more to follow in March's Budget. 

Ministers have ditched plans to squeeze benefit payments, meaning they will rise by 6.7 per cent next year based on the September inflation rate.

There had been suggestions of using the October inflation rate of 4.6 per cent as a baseline for benefit increases - a move that would have saved the government £3bn.

But Mr Hunt will unveil a 'carrot and stick' package of measures designed to encourage two million working age people to get a job.

Official figures yesterday showed borrowing was £16.9billion lower than expected. 

The Office for National Statistics said it stood at £98.3billion for the April to October period – higher than at the same period last year but lower than the £115.2billion forecast by the OBR in March.

However, in a worrying sign the October borrowing came in above predictions, and was the highest ever outside of Covid. 

The news came as the Treasury announced plans to increase the National Living Wage by more than a pound an hour from next April.

The rate - which will also be extended to 21-year-olds for the first time  - will rise from £10.42 to £11.44.

National minimum wage for 18 to 20-year-olds will also increase by £1.11 to £8.60 per hour, the Government has said.

Apprentices will have their minimum hourly rates boosted, with an 18-year-old in an industry like construction seeing their minimum hourly pay increase by over 20 per cent, going from £5.28 to £6.40 an hour.

There will also be a drive to get millions of people off benefits and back to work. Earlier this month, we reported on plans to impose tougher sanctions on those who claim unemployment benefits.

The Department for Work and Pensions plans to withdraw free prescriptions and dental treatment from those who refuse to engage with efforts to find them a job.

Across Britain, 1.57million people are in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance, Universal Credit or both  - the Chancellor's plans are expected to target around 1.1million of those, including those with long-term health conditions.

The wealth of tax cuts come as the Tories try to stave off a Labour landslide in the next general election, which could take place in autumn next year.

Polling has consistently put Labour ahead in the polls with a double-digit lead. The most recent YouGov polls earlier this month put Labour 23 percentage points ahead of the Tories on 44 per cent.

Another poll found that 32 per cent of voters believed Sir Keir Starmer would be the best prime minister, versus 22 per cent for Mr Sunak.

And recent polling for the Mail found that Labour was more likely to be thought of as a party of low taxes compared to the Conservatives.