Jeremy Hunt just dropped the biggest hint yet at when the next General Election will be.

The Chancellor was in the House of Commons today to reveal the economic measures in his Autumn Statement - laying out the government's economic plans.

Mr Hunt made a number of key announcements, including a a state pension increase, a freeze on alcohol duty and an increase in the National Living Wage.

Perhaps the most significant announcement in today's statement came in the form of a National Insurance cut. Mr Hunt said that National Insurance, paid by employees, will be cut by two percentage points, from 12% to 10%. The Chancellor said this cut will be introduced from January 6 and will help 27 million workers.

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He said: “It means someone on the average salary of £35,000 will save over £450. For the average nurse, it is a saving of over £520 and for the typical police officer it is a saving of over £630 every single year.”

But while the move was a significant one, the timing of it could be even more significant.

The Chancellor revealed that the tax cut will not come in at the end of the financial year in April, but on January 6. This will require urgent legislation to do.

Commentators have now started to speculate that the move to bring such a cut affecting millions of people in January is the biggest hint yet that the General Election will be held in May.

Speculation has been mounting that the government could call an early election in the spring. The latest that the next election can be held is January 28 and to call a vote earlier than that date will see the Prime Minister asking the monarch to dissolve Parliament.

The Tories have been trailing Labour significantly in the polls for some time but in light of some marginally better economic news - particularly on the subject of falling inflation - Rishi Sunak may be tempted to go to the polls sooner rather than later.

Today's announcement of a tax cut for 27 million people, brought forward to January, has left many believing a May vote is now firmly on the cards.

Journalist James Ball said: "Bringing in the NICs cut for January 6, rather than at the start of the next tax year, feels to me like a May election. Strongest hint yet."

Pollster Joe Twyman agreed, adding: "A May election now feels more likely to me than it did a couple of hours ago."

However, journalist Lewis Goodall, who co-hosts the News Agent podcast said the National Insurance cut was not necessarily a sign of an early election.

He said: "Can see early election discourse spreading again. If it happens in January, no particular reason to think election necessarily comes in May. You'd want to bring it in as early as possible whether it's spring or autumn, especially if you hope to augment it in spring budget."

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