DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Time for early Christmas presents, Chancellor! 

The midnight oil has been burning at the Treasury as Jeremy Hunt puts the final touches to what could be a make-or-break Autumn Statement this week.

The Chancellor has been bent over the books, brow furrowed, trying to navigate between keeping a responsible rein on public finances and showing families and businesses that brighter times beckon.

This will be fiendishly difficult. But with no sign of the Tories resurfacing from deep under water in the polls, Wednesday is one of the last chances for the Government to pivot public opinion before the election.

As always, the outcome of that will be determined by how people feel about themselves, the economy and the country.

While Mr Hunt has done an impressive job of restoring fiscal competence to Britain after Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, it’s time to urgently start the recovery process.

The Chancellor (pictured) has been bent over the books, brow furrowed, trying to navigate between keeping a responsible rein on public finances and showing families and businesses that brighter times beckon

Unfashionable as it is to credit Ms Truss with getting much right, her attempt to focus on economic growth remains correct.

How welcome, then, that the Chancellor is determined to do the same.

It’s abundantly clear he must. The economy is barely sputtering along. With an estimated £30 billion windfall to play with, Mr Hunt can launch a badly needed push for prosperity. This should be driven by tax cuts, which spark economic activity.

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Reducing National Insurance for the self-employed and raising VAT thresholds for small firms would be a huge boost to businesses. But these measures alone are hardly likely to set pulses racing.

So the Chancellor should reverse the absurd six-pence hike in corporation tax, which harmed our competitiveness.

And Mr Hunt should be even bolder. Families are buckling under a tax burden at a post-war high. There is a compelling case to give them long overdue relief.

Cuts to income tax or National Insurance by a penny or two would be like Christmas come early. Leaving more money in people’s pockets would ease the cost of living, while being unlikely to cause inflation to spike (a fear of the parsimonious Treasury).

If the Tories want to recoup the lost tax, how about jamming the brakes on the out-of-control welfare state? Or radical reforms of the bloated public sector?

As things stand, only the most optimistic Conservative could believe the party will win the next election.

That is why it’s vital to send out a powerful and reassuring message to voters that they have not abandoned their low-tax mantle.

Bedlam on borders

The revelation that three foreign terror suspects who entered Britain illegally on small boats have disappeared off the security services’ radar is truly chilling.

They couldn’t be deported because of fear of persecution, nor could they be tried here. So now they are at large and potentially plotting attacks against us.

If the Rwanda scheme were operating, these men could have been sent there for processing. When Rishi Sunak tightens up the plan rejected by judges, it is imperative for public safety that Parliament backs it.

Sadly this is not the only immigration scandal. It took more than five years to deport a Somalian rapist due to his endless cycle of dubious human rights appeals.

If the Rwanda scheme were operating, these men could have been sent there for processing. When Rishi Sunak (pictured) tightens up the plan rejected by judges, it is imperative for public safety that Parliament backs it

We have the ongoing palaver of Channel migrants arriving and being housed at taxpayers’ expense. And this week, net migration – already at an unsustainable record 606,000 – is expected to rise again.

This may not trouble the chattering classes, but it matters to ordinary people whose lives are affected – by overcrowded schools, NHS services and housing.

The Tories have promised to address legal and illegal immigration and failed miserably. Labour would be no better.

If our mainstream parties cannot – or refuse to – do as instructed, they should not be surprised if disgruntled voters shun them altogether.

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