The UK is set for years of economic pain, higher debt and higher taxes thanks to the impact of the pandemic coupled with the hit from Brexit, according to a gloomy new forecast from one of the country’s top economics think-tanks.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, which published its annual Green Budget in association with investment bank Citi on 13 October, warns that taxes will have to go up by around £40bn a year during the middle years of this decade just to stop the national debt from spiralling ever-upwards.