Sin taxes could be an an obvious  way for the Chancellor to raise some extra revenue in the forthcoming Budget this week, but it’s unclear whether we’ll see a blanket sin tax hike since plans to increase duties on beer, cider, wine and spirits were scrapped last March.

Christopher Snowden, IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics, said in the Daily Mail that the rate freeze last year has worked out well for government coffers and the industry, saying: “For spirits, for example, revenue went up 25 per cent in January this year so the government should learn lessons from that”.