What is a working person? Maybe we will find out by the time the chancellor sits down

It is a phrase that crops up 21 times in the Labour manifesto, 12 times in the Conservative manifesto and has been used in the House of Commons more than 3,500 times in the past decade. So, surely everyone knows what "working people" are - don't they?

- Peter Walker

Perhaps not. In the buildup to next week's budget there has been increasing scrutiny and a lack of clarity about what Labour's manifesto commitment to not raising taxes on "working people" means in practice.

While ministers may want to insist that nothing can be given away in advance of a budget, they have faced inevitable questions about what they would view as a working person, often with mixed results.

Speaking to broadcasters in Samoa, Keir Starmer said he would not use the term for people who had income from assets such as shares or property. "They wouldn't come within my definition," he said. Downing Street hastily clarified that the prime minister did not mean people who owned small amounts of, for example, stocks or shares.