The main rate of national insurance will be cut by two percentage points, from 12% to 10%, today, as outlined in the autumn statement.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the pre-election cut means families with two earners are nearly a thousand pounds better off.

Mr Hunt told MPs in his November statement that the rate of national insurance for workers earning between £12,570 and £50,270 would reduce from 12 per cent to 10 per cent from January.

It was a change Mr Hunt said would "help 27 million" people by putting extra money in their payslips.

Jeremy Hunt told the Commons he would bring forward urgent legislation to Parliament to introduce the cut in national insurance for employees “from January 6, so that people can see the benefit in their payslips at the start of the new year”.

He added: “It means someone on the average salary of £35,000 will save over £450. For the average nurse, it is a saving of over £520 and for the typical police officer it is a saving of over £630 every single year.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did raise the prospect of further tax cuts during his visit to Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, earlier this week, when he said he would “keep cutting people’s taxes”.

Mr Hunt added: “Today’s cut in national insurance by 2% means that a typical family with two earners will be nearly a thousand pounds better off this year.

“That is really important in a cost-of-living crisis where people have been feeling real pressure on family budgets, but also it rewards work, it’ll bring more people into the labour force and that is good for growing the economy.”

He added: “It’s the start of a process, as Chancellor if I can afford to go further I will, I don’t yet know if I can.

“But we want to do this because it helps families, it also helps to grow the economy, and we believe that a lightly taxed economy will grow faster and in the end that’ll mean more money for public services like the NHS.”

Reacting to the announcement of the cut in November, Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis posted on X: "THE RABBIT FROM THE HAT: He's cutting employee National Insurance rates currently 12% on income between £12,570 and £50,270 to 10%. Someone on average salary will save £450/yr from 6 January 2024.

"This is a tax cut for workers (not for other earnings) which goes some way to cover the cost of freezing the tax thresholds."