Rishi Sunak insists £15bn cost-of-living package will have ‘minimal’ impact on inflation

Chancellor denies package is un-Conservative, after thinktank describes it as ‘something Gordon Brown could be proud of’

Rishi Sunak has insisted his £15bn cost-of-living support package will have only a “minimal” impact on inflation, raising prices by less than 1 per cent.

The chancellor denied backbench Tory complaints that his measures – which also included a £5bn windfall tax on energy companies – were un-Conservative.

Leading economic thinktank the Institute for Fiscal Studies today said that the package set out on Thursday was “something that Gordon Brown could be proud of”.