With motorists already paying record prices for petrol this month, the Chancellor surely has his hands tied over any prospective ending of the fuel duty freeze that’s been in place since 2011, writes Mail Online and This is Money motoring editor Rob Hull.

The average price of unleaded has risen as high as 142.94p this week, according to the RAC, which eclipses the previous record set in April 2012.

With drivers facing even higher fuel costs, with oil projected to rise to $100 a barrel before Christmas, any increase to taxation on fuel would be unpopular to say the least.

Even at the highest recorded price this week, fuel duty of 57.95p-a-litre makes up two fifths of what drivers are paying at the pumps.

Here we go, a few shots of Rishi with the famous little red box as he heads to the House of Commons.

T-minus 90 minutes.

What will the 'Rabbit Out of the Budget Hat' be? OK it's not THE Budget so we might not get the usual flourish towards the end of the speech, delivered with a metaphorical two fingers up to the opposition, writes This is Money deputy editor Adrian Lowery. 

But there’s a lot of talk that the mini-Rabbit (or the Autumn Rabbit if you like) will be reducing the taper rate on Universal Credit.

To deflect some of the criticism the Government has been coming in for over reversing the £20 pandemic uplift.

Meanwhile, business editor of the Daily Mail Ruth Sunderland writes: Free spending and fiscal laxity may be the right thing in extremis, but they should not become a way of life...

I trust the Budget will be a low-key affair because I'm not sure the electorate has the stomach for any more tax rises – now, come April next year, or stretching into the future, writes Mail on Sunday personal finance editor Jeff Prestridge

After the announcement last month that both National Insurance contribution rates and dividend taxes would be hiked up in April to fund the seemingly bottomless pit that is the National Health Service, the last thing we now need is another raid on our pay packets, he says.

Read his views below

Britain is at a critical juncture in terms of its economic future, the cost of living and rising cases of Covid-19. Some feel this Budget is one of the most important a Chancellor has ever had to give.

Below, we outline 16 of the most pertinent predictions from experts for next week's Budget, spanning capital gains tax and pensions to the minimum wage, business rates and student loans. 

One item that was announced in the last Budget were green bonds to be issued by NS&I.

These were unleashed on the nation last week. The rate? 0.65% over three years... 

It remains to be seen what the uptake is like - one expert suggested it would be a stretch to rake in £100million at that rate, let alone £15billion. 

Keir Starmer talks about cutting VAT on energy bills, which have soared in recent months after a number of supplier collapses and escalating gas costs.

Stephen Murray, energy expert at MoneySupermarket, says: 'We have  found that nearly half of bill payers are concerned about being able to afford their energy bills this winter and that three quarters of this group attribute their worries directly to seeing their bills increase.

'In light of this, it's understandable that many consumers are hoping that the Chancellor will cut the rate of VAT to ease the pressure but reports suggest this is not an avenue the Chancellor will explore.'

Will Rishi act? 

Plenty of people working in finance, media and the like who seem fairly upset on Twitter about this statement being in what is half-term for most children.

Surely the perfect activity for your youngsters - plonk them in front of the TV to watch and teach them about finance? 

No?

Scammers are a plague on pensions, devising increasingly sophisticated ways to defraud hard-working savers of their retirement cash.

Significant efforts have been made to clamp down on scams in recent years, from a ban on pensions cold calling, to new rules which will make it easier for pension providers to block suspicious transfers.

However, unnecessarily complex Treasury plans to increase the minimum age people can access their pension pot from 55 to 57 in 2028 risk handing the initiative back to fraudsters.

Could Mr Sunak use the Budget to scrap the plans - Tom Selby at AJ Bell hopes so...

The Government has announced spending worth more than £30billion which Rishi Sunak will confirm later. 

Below is a breakdown of some of the most notable funding pledges: 

• The national minimum wage will increase from £8.91 to £9.50 from April next year;
• An extra £6billion will be given to the NHS to pay for new equipment and new facilities to clear the Covid backlog;
• Brownfield sites covering the equivalent of 2,000 football pitches could be turned into plots for housing as part of a £1.8billion injection;
• A £2.6billion pot of funding will be set up to help children with special educational needs and disabilities;
• Levelling up transport outside of London will benefit to the tune of nearly £7billion, paying for a range of projects, including tram improvements;
• The Department of Health and Social Care will receive £5billion over the next three years to fund research and development in areas such as genome sequencing and tackling health inequalities;
• A cash injection of £3billion will be given to both post-16 education but also to adults later in life;
• £850million will be spent over three years to 'breathe life' back into cultural hotspots like London's V&A museum, Tate Liverpool and the Imperial War Museum in Duxford;
• Ageing Border Force vessels will be replaced by new cutters as part of a £700million investment to improve the safety of Britain's borders. 

Over the weekend, it felt like the Treasury had gone a little trigger happy revealing what measures will be announced. 

That has been met with the wrath of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who is adamant all policy announcements should be made to politicians first. 

Sir Lindsay criticised ministers over the approach. He accused Mr Sunak and the Treasury of treating Parliament in a 'discourteous manner' as he vowed to do everything in his power to ensure ministers answer MPs' questions. 

If you are feeling a pinch of déjà vu, that's because Sir Lindsay was unhappy earlier in the year for the exact same reason.

Mr Sunak also revealed that he has been fuelled by Twix bars and Sprite in the run-up. Sounds like a sugar overload.

His dog, Nova, wasn't too impressed - according to his Twitter account.

Mr Sunak is no stranger to photoshoots and sleek social media posts.

I feel like he might have taken it too far yesterday, with a shot of him in his socks 'n' sliders. 

They cost £89.99. Does he look 'down with the kids?'. The jury is well and truly out. 

Good morning and welcome to another Budget live blog from This is Money.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will make his Budget statement to MPs in the House of Commons at 12.30pm.

It is the second Budget of the year and Rishi’s fourth in 19 months – his first was on 11 March 2020, then a lite version on 8 July 2020, which looked to help the post-coronavirus economy.

We then had the 2021 Budget on 3 March 2021, and today, he will once again be front and centre of attention with an Autumn edition. 

There is also the Spending Review today – this outlines how government plans to fund public services for the next three years.

Can. You. Feel. The. Excitement...