Benefits and state pension will see biggest increase in 32 years

Boris Johnson has expressed hope that the package of measures will get people through the cost of living crisis, “we believe this will last until prices start to come down”. But Mr Sunak did not rule out more spending to help with the squeeze.

The Resolution Foundation has found that 82% of this year’s rise in energy prices will be offset by the government – a huge budgetary intervention. This figure rises to 93% for the poorest households.

One line in the think tank’s analysis read: “The coming winter will be far from easy for the poorest households, but it will be much less gloomy thanks to yesterday’s package.”

The analysis showed that the poorest fifth of households will gain an average of £1,195 from the measures Mr Sunak announced for this year.

In contrast, the wealthiest fifth of households will lose an average of £456. Breaking down the numbers further, the top 5% of households will lose nearly £2,000.

In an interview with BBC Radio Four’s Today programme, the Chancellor insisted he was still a ‘fiscal conservative’.

Mr Sunak said: “People can judge me on the way I have acted over the past two years.

“I’ve always been ready to respond to the situation on the ground, what’s happening to the economy, what families are going through and to make sure we have policies in place to support them through that. .

“In terms of” is it punctual? to fight and reduce inflation, we have the tools at our disposal and after a while it will come down.”