What the chancellor really means when he says tax cuts are 'impossible'

Or, come the spring, there could actually be more headroom; which he may well choose to use up rather than leave as a generous gift to whoever is chancellor following the election. So instead, this Autumn Statement may focus on the key terms and longer-term measures, such as levelling up, boosting the supply of workers, tackling growth, that the government wants to use to frame its election strategy.