Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has insisted his tax cuts are about “long-term growth” for the economy, calling it “silly” to think they were instead about the timing of the next election.

The Conservative Party has been told to be ready for a general election from 1 January, a senior government source told Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby, with a vote being called as early as May if Wednesday’s autumn statement goes down well with voters.

In the statement, Mr Hunt announced a raft of measures, including reducing national insurance for employees from 12% to 10% and scrapping it entirely for the self-employed.

But he told Sky News he hadn’t chosen “the most populist tax cuts”, adding: “It’s silly to think about this in terms of the timing of the next election. We’re trying to make the right decisions for long-term growth of the economy.”

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