Autumn Statement 2016 Daily Politics


Autumn Statement 2016

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Welcome to this BBC News Special on the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.

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Forgive the sound of my voice. I have plenty of lozenges to get us

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through. Today's Autumn Statement is the

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first financial set-piece since Britain decided to leave

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the European Union The new Chancellor says he wants

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the country to be "match fit" for the opportunities

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and challenges ahead. I'm in poverties mouth, one of the

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key industrial hub on the south koe.s I will be talking to

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businesses here, large and small about what they make of the

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Chancellor's businesses here, large and small

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about what they make of the Chancellor's statementp

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I'll be responding to your e-mails, texts and tweets about what the

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Autumn Statement means for you and your family. I'm in the what the of

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the City of London there.s' been market volitility ever since the

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referendum. How will the same markets respond today? And I'm house

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Parliament getting the thoughts of politicians from the major parties

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and their assessment of the new Chancellor's performance.

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And all that over the course of the next four hours here on BBC2

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and we're also joined by viewers on the BBC News Channel.

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With me throughout are the BBC's political

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and our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed.

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Well, Philip Hammond left Number 11 Downing Street just

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He says the public finances face a "sharp challenge"

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and that he wants to make the economy "watertight".

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His boss in Number Ten says she wants a country

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that works for everyone, in particular those people "just

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But with growth next year expected to be lower then previously

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forecast, how will Mr Hammond be able to meet these twin challenges?

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Well, the last time a Chancellor stood at the Despatch Box to deliver

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a financial statement, it was a chap called George Osborne

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Remember him? No giggling at the back.

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All the forecasts back in March assumed we would be staying

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Britain will be stronger, safer and better off,

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possible scenarios, which could, possibly,

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The British people have spoken and the answer is - we're out.

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I think the country requires fresh leadership.

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We don't see any need for an emergency Budget.

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I expect to make an Autumn Statement in the usual way.

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We are ready to take whatever steps are necessary to protect this

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We are going to go through a period of volitility now.

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The UK economy grew faster than expected in the three months

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I've been here for 25 years and I hope it's going to be

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A reminder of some of the remarkable things that have been going on this

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year alone. Laura, in the run-up to this Autumn Statement, he get the

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impression there was a the bit of, how should I put it, bargaining

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between Number 10 Downing Street and Number 11? Indeed. Classic tension,

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how account Treasury make Downing Street's rhetoric add up to reality.

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Repeatedly May hae has made her sell to the British public that she wants

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to stand up for people who are finding it hard it get by, the

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Treasury, however, despite everything that has changed, all the

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uncertainty is focussed on how to pare back spending. Phil Hammond has

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a more relaxed approach to get the deficit down but don't be under any

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illusion, we are still in hard times. So Number 10, and Number 1

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#1, I think it would be an overexaggeration to say daggers

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drawn, but there is still tension. We are going to look at what has

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been proposed, not what ministers talk b the giveaways, the briefing

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that comes out, but the takeaways in the afternoon. And perhaps the

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Treasury now not as around as it was under Gordon Brown or George

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Osborne? Absolutely. It is one of the biggest changes in this new

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administration. David Cameron and George Osborne and before that,

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Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, who's relationship was different, but in

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terms of having two big alpha beasts around the Cabinet table was the

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same. We had the two duets who were almost as powerful as each other,

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George Osborne and David Cameron used to basically preagree

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everything between the two of them before the rest of Government had a

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chance to get in the room. Things are very different now. Number 11 is

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one of the Prime Minister's ministries, rather than being part

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of this, sort of super-power cupel. Interesting -- couple.

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Interestingly, Phil Hammond started off thinking that's how it should

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be, he started thinking that the Treasury should be a finance

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department, he is the chief finance officer in a business but in terms

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of politics, as things have got going I'm in the so sure everyone at

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the Treasury is as happy at being a bit less important. He seems relaxed

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#6789d we have a picture of him -- he seems relaxed. We have a picture

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of him reading his own Autumn Statement, that clearly taken on the

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run, not in anyway a posed picture for the media! He has a semi-on his

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face, which we don't often see, probably realising the ludicrous

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nature of these pictures but he has this uncertainty of the consequences

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of Brexit next year. That's a real difficult problem. It is a hugely

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difficult problem. And, as everything with this Government,

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that's the backdrop to the lot. You know, they don't want to be defined

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by Brexit but like it or not, that's the backdrop to the lot and whatever

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measures the Treasury come forward with, everybody knows, the probably

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biggest headline will be how bad the outlook looks, in terms of the

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economy. Worth remembering, though n recent months, the Treasury has been

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proved wrong in terms of what they predicted for the immediate

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aftermath of the referendum vote. So, as ever, you have to have a

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pretty heavy dose of salt in terms of the forecasts. Absolutely:

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So that's the political backdrop to today.

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A key part of the Chancellor's statement will be the new set

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of independent forecasts provided by the Office for Budget

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The last set in March were predicated on official

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Government policy which, at the time, was to remain

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Official Government policy is now to leave the EU.

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So, Kamal, what should we be looking out for?

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No change really, there. Starting off, let's take all forecasts with a

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degree of scepticism, I think, they are a path, a possible journey, only

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a possible journey, other things could happen. But let's start but

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looking they deficit protections. -- projections.

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That's what the Government spends over what it earns -

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These are the forecasts from the Office for

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Budget Responsibility, the independent economic watchdog,

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published at the time of the Budget in March.

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They show that budget coming down every year, pretty sharply. 55

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billion, in the year of borrowing. The important figure

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is that last one. George Osborne said he wanted

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to achieve a budget surplus by 2020, that moment when the Government

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starts earning more than it spends. Since then we've had the referendum,

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the fall in sterling and a downgrade That has changed the numbers we

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expect the OBR to publish today. You can see the Institute for Fiscal

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Studies forecast of what the OBR's forecast might be. It is a forecast

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of a forecast but it shows that although borrow something falling

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every year, city, look at that 2019-20 figure now. It is still

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borrowing. Still a deficit by 2019-20.

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Of it is pro-Brexit but there are other problems, the Chinese economy,

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etc. But what is the Government going to do now for hitting a dead

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lain and what deadline for the books will it set? And it'll be a small

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percentage of GDP, below the mass rate of 3%. But am I right in

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thinking some of the reason for the slower deficit reduction, one of the

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reasons is that the forecasters are assuming lower economic growth? Yes,

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that's right. So the level of economic growth in a country is

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absolutely linked to the public finances. The better growth, the

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better the public finances, because you get better tax receipts, in

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particular. So, today we will get the new economic growth forecast

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from the Office for Budget Responsibility. The OBR basis its

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forecast on Government policy. It'll be interesting how much that changes

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now that the Government policy is to leave the Budget urge about. Letsd'

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remind ourselves what the OBR said in March 2016, George Osborne's last

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budget. They suggested that growth this year would be 2%. Now, as you

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say, Andrew, actually, the economy has done better than many people

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expected, despite the referendum vote. There is a lot of momentum in

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the economy. And the Bank of England, in November, actually

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upgraded the growth forecast for the year, which is good for the public

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finances. After having downgraded them Yes, so

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actually saying the economy this year would be performing better.

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But, as you say, Andrew, since then, economic forecasts have become

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gloomier. Some sand Brexit. The majority of that is because they

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believe Brexit and uncertainty will lead to lower growth. Let's look at

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suggestions for next year. The OBR in 2006 said growth next year would

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be 2.2%. But let's lack at what the Bank of England now believes next

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year will look at. They are saying quite a sharp downgrade, 1.4%. Of

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course, as ever, these are just forecasts, not definite facts that

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will happen. The Bank of England is now suggesting that overall, by the

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end of 2018, the economy will be 2.5% smaller than it would have been

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if we'd voted to stay in the European Union. I think we always

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need to say, though, Andrew, that it is not just Brexit, necessarily,

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there are other issues with the UK economy that are not connected to us

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leaving the European Union. Kemal, what about inflation? We

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haven't had much of that recently? We haven't. We have had a benign

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inflation situation in the UK, really since two years after the

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financial crisis of 2008-9. That situation is changing slowly. So

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let's have a look at that. This year, inflation at the moment is

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0.9%. That actually was a decline. But, the path is upwards and, the

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important bit today is we will see the predictions for inflation for

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next year. And this is where prices and the voters might start feeling

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the impact in their pocket. So, before the referendum in June, this

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is the Treasury's estimate of inflation for next year, 1.9%. An

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increase, but relatively modest. Right, let's look at what the Bank

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of England then has suggested. This, now, since the referendum result,

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since the stall in sterling and the fall in sterling has increased the

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costing of food and fuel imports into the UK. They believe, now,

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inflation will go up to 2.7%. Quite a rapid rise on that 0.9%. And that

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really raises this squeezed living standard issue, because wage

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inflation in the UK at the moment is running just about 2%. If inflation

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starts going above, that real incomes start falling. OK. We are

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going to give away a Daily Politics' mug for anybody who can tell us when

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the Bank of England got a inflation forecast back? Only one. All we can

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afford, it is tough times. Well, what's the story

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on the financial markets? Our Business Editor,

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Simon Jack, is in Markets can react quite violently to

:15:08.:15:17.

economic pronouncements. I was stood in this spot when this happened,

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post-referendum, the fall in the value of sterling and it has

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continued to be pretty volatile and moved down. That was a big surprise,

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the markets got that forecast catastrophically wrong. Today the

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question is how much scope there is for surprise. We are expecting

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slower growth, lower tax receipts, which means higher borrowing for the

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government. The more you borrow, the worse credit you are, the worse your

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credit rating is. And we have seen the price, the cost of government

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borrowing begin to creep up lately. So what are markets expecting today,

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what capacities do they have for shock? Big picture, you are braced

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for this, aren't you? Braced for some pretty bad news. Certainly

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braced for bad news, economic growth will be lower next year than had

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hitherto been forecast. Sterling is a lot weaker. We will see the impact

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of the inflationary effects of lower sterling come through. That will eat

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into people's spending power. So, we know that. We know that we are going

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to be borrowing more. And that means there's less room the Chancellor to

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give giveaways to the public to ease some of those concerns of lower

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growth, what that's going to mean for the man in the street. Before we

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talk about what he may or may not do, what he's got up his sleeve,

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some people may say we've had gloomy economic forecast before, we were

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promised a nightmare after the referendum, but in fact we are on

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target to hit pre-referendum growth targets for 2016 - 2017. You are

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absolutely right that the forecasts for this year's economic activity

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have been remarkably robust. What we haven't really seen is the impact of

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the decision to leave the EU. We are still part of it. It hasn't really

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weighed on consumer spending. Confidence is still reasonably

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robust. What we are likely to see into the future is more of the real

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impact as we trigger article 50 and we see consumers react to that

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higher inflation. Within the stock market there have been some movers,

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some big estate agents have seen their shares it as there is this

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measure to ban them charging tenants for extra fees, so we have seen some

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activity, what's been going on? That's right, there's always a

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little bit of leaking of what will be announced by the Chancellor had

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12:30pm. One of the things that he's announced if this move to stop

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tenants having to pay the fees, and to push that onto either the estate

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agents or the landlords. So that has hit the estate agents this morning.

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Thanks, Sue. We'll be catching up with you again. Countrywide and

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Foxton is both seeing sharp falls in share prices and we are seeing some

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market reaction to what we are expecting in the budget. The pound

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is very stable at the moment. Does it have the capacity to shock? Let's

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see. Of course when the share price of

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estate agent falls, the nation is in mourning. What about the wide

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economy? Jo Coburn is in Portsmouth for us

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today, gauging business reaction Yes, Andrew, I'm a Land Rover BA

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are, here where they are building this rather amazing catamaran which

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is going to be ready to hit the waters around Bermuda by next

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spring. All sounds very exotic. Let's talk to the man who runs the

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show, Martin Whitmarsh. The Chancellor has said he wants to make

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the economy watertight, excuse the pun, in the event of choppy waters

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ahead. What would you like to hear from him? We don't like some

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certainty post Brexit but what we mustn't do in the clamour for

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certainty is compromise the government. They've got to get the

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best deal they can for the economy. In the meanwhile be only thing that

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we can have that encourages investment in RND, any tax break

:19:18.:19:23.

enables companies to have the confidence to invest, that would be

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the most positive thing we could have delivered this afternoon. Is

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there evidence that businesses are holding onto their cash and waiting

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before they actually use or invest in projects? I think all of the

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volatility post Brexit, the exchange rate, that has caused everyone a bit

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of a slow up. We sense it in our partners and these big companies

:19:48.:19:50.

that invest in our programme. They are just wondering what direction we

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are going to go and how they conserve a bit of cash through

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whatever challenges they have. We've got to live with it. It's how it is.

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In the meanwhile anything that could stabilise that, give us some

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confidence that we can invest and certainly have our partners invest

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in research and development, marketing and infrastructure. Martin

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Whitmarsh, thank you very much. And that is the theme of the people we

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will be talking to down here. While they may see the Brexit world as an

:20:19.:20:22.

opportunity, they would like to see some certainty so they can make

:20:23.:20:26.

decisions about investment for the future, or investing in new staff,

:20:27.:20:30.

trying to recruit people with the right sorts of skills. I'll be

:20:31.:20:33.

talking to businesses here in Portsmouth large and small about

:20:34.:20:38.

what they are looking for from Philip Hammond. You run an online

:20:39.:20:46.

cashmere company, wearing one of their beautiful scarves. What would

:20:47.:20:49.

you I to hear from Philip Hammond? The obvious things like the

:20:50.:20:56.

alliance, increasing or reducing the VAT, and corporation tax being

:20:57.:21:01.

reduced. And then we need a plan. There are lots of big companies out

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there that have teams of people that are managing the whole pre-empting

:21:05.:21:09.

of Brexit. We are not, there are ten of us. Working away and not knowing

:21:10.:21:15.

what to do next. I've got a January strategy meeting. I'd like to know

:21:16.:21:19.

what countries that we are looking at to export to. So at the moment we

:21:20.:21:24.

are doing 50% to a domestic audience, selling online, 50% of our

:21:25.:21:29.

business is export. Has that been helped by the fall in the value of

:21:30.:21:33.

the pound? Massively, the Americans are buying from us in droves at the

:21:34.:21:39.

moment. Around Brexit there was nervousness, some brand GB

:21:40.:21:42.

uncertainty and that did not help us. That was the only month

:21:43.:21:45.

Marseille when we saw a dip in growth. But we kind of need to know

:21:46.:21:49.

basically what's going to happen next. I don't spec them to show

:21:50.:21:53.

their hand completely but it would be nice to know whether we should

:21:54.:21:58.

continue targeting export or rein it in and look at the domestic market.

:21:59.:22:05.

Thank you. Let's hear from our personal finance expert with what

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she has for the day here in Portsmouth. We already have some

:22:10.:22:13.

details from the Treasury about what you can expect from the Chancellor

:22:14.:22:15.

which will affect your personal finances. He's going to reduce the

:22:16.:22:20.

rate at which benefits are withdrawn for people when they start work. At

:22:21.:22:25.

the moment if you get universal credit, then once you reach a

:22:26.:22:29.

certain amount of earnings, 65p per every ?1 you burn is taken away,

:22:30.:22:36.

that's going to go down to 63p. The National Living Wage paid to people

:22:37.:22:40.

aged 25 and over will also be increased in April from ?7.20 to

:22:41.:22:47.

?7.50. Although that is lower than other people out. A decrease in fuel

:22:48.:22:53.

duty and passenger air duty may also be looked at, making the cost of

:22:54.:22:57.

holidays cheap. You can get in touch in many different ways.

:22:58.:23:05.

Andrew. Thanks, Ruth. Joanna Gosling is outside the House of Commons.

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Thank you. With me Oliver Dowden, Tory MP and Jonathan Reynolds, the

:23:20.:23:24.

shadow economic Secretary. Thank you both for joining us. Oliver Dowden,

:23:25.:23:27.

when the Chancellor talks about eye watering Lee high public debt

:23:28.:23:31.

levels, can he afford to be doing anything intimate of helping people?

:23:32.:23:36.

It is important the Chancellor sticks with a plan that has been

:23:37.:23:40.

working. We have reduced borrowing by two thirds, created 3 million

:23:41.:23:44.

jobs. I want to see him continue to do that. He is not sticking with the

:23:45.:23:48.

plan, is he? The plan has changed. The original plan was to be in

:23:49.:23:52.

surplus by the end of the parliament, that has gone. It

:23:53.:23:55.

continues to be the plan to reduce the deficit year on year. It is

:23:56.:23:59.

important that we continue to have that confidence. At the same time

:24:00.:24:03.

their escape, because we have taken difficult decisions through the last

:24:04.:24:07.

Parliament, to show some flexibility so we are properly prepared for the

:24:08.:24:11.

challenges that face us in years ahead. I'm particularly interested

:24:12.:24:18.

in what the Chancellor will be doing around infrastructure, making sure

:24:19.:24:20.

we've got the roads and railways in place, so we match fit and ready for

:24:21.:24:23.

when Britain leaves the European Union. How do you see the challenges

:24:24.:24:27.

facing the Chancellor? The first plan was to clear the deficit before

:24:28.:24:31.

the end the last Parliament, clearly that hasn't happened and we've had

:24:32.:24:35.

six wasted years. We need a plan to make sure this company is

:24:36.:24:40.

successful. Post Brexit that is more challenging. It is not about

:24:41.:24:42.

gimmicks and bits of money here and there, it is about a serious new set

:24:43.:24:46.

of fiscal rules that allow investment to take place. Bring down

:24:47.:24:50.

the day-to-day spending to equal the taxes coming in, but do the rules so

:24:51.:24:56.

investment can take place. When you say six wasted years in terms of

:24:57.:24:58.

paying down the deficit, and looking ahead to more uncertainty, what is

:24:59.:25:04.

your answer? It sounds like more spending. Not spending on the costs

:25:05.:25:12.

of failure. What would you spend on? Bridges, railways, the energy

:25:13.:25:16.

system, broadband connections. But we want fiscal rules that will allow

:25:17.:25:20.

people to do that. On the measures the Chancellor could introduce,

:25:21.:25:26.

there has been lots of talk about Jams, the big news today seems to be

:25:27.:25:31.

that cuts to universal credit will go ahead, the working poor who go

:25:32.:25:35.

out and earn a low wage will be hit. Fiscal rules, in terms of how you

:25:36.:25:40.

diverged, just describe what you would identify the fiscal rules to

:25:41.:25:45.

be in a nutshell. Labour would like a focus on the deficit, the things

:25:46.:25:51.

the government spends money on, but excluding investment. So you take

:25:52.:25:56.

out, you don't borrow for day-to-day spending. What would the target

:25:57.:26:00.

beyond cutting the deficit? Over a five-year rolling period, you have

:26:01.:26:04.

to get it down on day-to-day spending, but why include investment

:26:05.:26:10.

spending? Does that add up? Jonathan talks very reasonably about this but

:26:11.:26:16.

his boss, the Shadow Chancellor, is proposing ?500 billion of additional

:26:17.:26:19.

spending, an extraordinary about of money. There is no fiscal

:26:20.:26:24.

discipline. The contrast with us, because we made those difficult

:26:25.:26:26.

decisions to the Parliament, it gives us scope to have more

:26:27.:26:30.

flexibility as we face Brexit to invest in infrastructure, and help

:26:31.:26:35.

struggling people to get by. To be clear on what Oliver has said,

:26:36.:26:38.

Oliver is adding capital investment over ten years and adding an extra

:26:39.:26:48.

?250 billion. Your national infrastructure plan is for ?483

:26:49.:26:55.

billion. Capital spending plus leveraging from the private markets

:26:56.:26:58.

for a national investment bank. All of that spending is against the

:26:59.:27:02.

backdrop, with a figure of ?1.6 trillion of UK debt, the picture

:27:03.:27:09.

will just get worse, won't it? That's the situation we are in. When

:27:10.:27:13.

they said we had to bring the deficit down in one Parliament, they

:27:14.:27:19.

ignored economic advice and this is what has happened. We are right out

:27:20.:27:25.

of time. Thank you both. STUDIO: Thanks. A lot of talk of fiscal

:27:26.:27:32.

rules, there. Mr Hammond may have some fiscal rules of his own. There

:27:33.:27:35.

have been 12 fiscal rules since 1997, ten of them have been broken.

:27:36.:27:44.

There is expert analysis on the website.

:27:45.:27:49.

And if you're on Twitter you can join the conversation

:27:50.:27:52.

There's our live shot of Big Ben, there, two minutes to 12. Very soon

:27:53.:28:02.

we'll be going over as we always do on Wednesday to the House of Commons

:28:03.:28:04.

for prime ministers questions. And that will be followed

:28:05.:28:10.

by the chancellor's statement. Always a beautiful picture of

:28:11.:28:18.

Westminster, there. Laura, a difficult one for the Chancellor

:28:19.:28:23.

because he has to base what he tells us today on forecasts lovably

:28:24.:28:28.

roughly the consensus forecast that we heard from the city, from people

:28:29.:28:34.

who, in the past, have been wrong in their forecasts. Indeed, and on

:28:35.:28:38.

these big set piece days when you get the Treasury's big statements,

:28:39.:28:42.

even though they use independent numbers from the Office for Budget

:28:43.:28:46.

Responsibility, he is to do and then knowing his audience is deeply

:28:47.:28:49.

sceptical about what is being put forward. He has to base it on that.

:28:50.:28:54.

Particularly for the Treasury, who take quite a downbeat view on what

:28:55.:28:57.

the uncertainty around Brexit will mean, it is extreme the difficult

:28:58.:29:02.

for them to stand up and not sound like the world is about to come to

:29:03.:29:07.

an end, but at the same time... One of the interesting things about

:29:08.:29:10.

Philip Hammond has been in the last few months, he is certainly not a

:29:11.:29:15.

flashy politician, not somebody who enjoys hogging the limelight. But in

:29:16.:29:19.

his own downbeat way he has had some quite extraordinary things. He has

:29:20.:29:23.

said that we are in for a roller-coaster, he has said debt is

:29:24.:29:27.

at eye watering levels. How does he calibrate that with wanting to

:29:28.:29:31.

present a steady, cautious course which is what we are all told that

:29:32.:29:37.

he will put forward. I think the issue will be when and if the

:29:38.:29:41.

government will balance its books. It has been interesting that Theresa

:29:42.:29:44.

May has talked about still hitting a surplus, ie the government earns

:29:45.:29:49.

more than it spends. Philip Hammond has been much more careful, he has

:29:50.:29:52.

only talked about balancing the books. However it happens, and you

:29:53.:29:57.

are right, forecasts are only that, but they do show a pathway. And

:29:58.:30:02.

although the direct, precise numbers may not be hit in the end, they show

:30:03.:30:08.

this kind of journey that the country's economy is on, and Philip

:30:09.:30:13.

Hammond has to take on board what that forecast says. What will be

:30:14.:30:16.

fascinating is what the Office for Budget Responsibility says about

:30:17.:30:21.

Brexit, how much of the effect on the economy, if there is an effect

:30:22.:30:25.

on the year, me, as we leave the European Union, is down to the

:30:26.:30:30.

issue, and how much is it down to all the other issues that the

:30:31.:30:33.

economy is grappling with anyway. That will be one of the key issues

:30:34.:30:39.

to look for, what the OBR says about Brexit, what the government needs to

:30:40.:30:41.

borrow extra to account for that, and other issues, and also what the

:30:42.:30:46.

overall debt position will be. The Treasury is certainly clear that

:30:47.:30:51.

that debt position is going to be a very, very big number that is going

:30:52.:30:52.

to be pretty frightening. And it'll not be the headline that

:30:53.:31:04.

everybody gets, it'll be the Budget bubbling, their big numbers that

:31:05.:31:07.

will dominate the debate. Well, let's go straight over to the House

:31:08.:31:09.

of Commons for Prime Minister's Questions.

:31:10.:31:12.

Number one, please, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, this morning I had

:31:13.:31:15.

meetings with ministerial colleagues and others n addition to my duties

:31:16.:31:19.

in this House, I shall have further such meetings later

:31:20.:31:20.

in this House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

:31:21.:31:24.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. A report recently produced by a number of

:31:25.:31:30.

organisations, including guy Gingerbread and sit zeens advice in

:31:31.:31:33.

Fife found one-third of families that should have been claiming child

:31:34.:31:37.

maintenance support did not apply but a major barrier to application

:31:38.:31:41.

was the ?20 application fee and that the 4% collection fee had a serious

:31:42.:31:47.

impact on family budgets. Will the Prime Minister undertake to review

:31:48.:31:51.

these unfair charges? The issues of trying to ensure that those who are

:31:52.:31:56.

responsible for children tally pay for their children when a family has

:31:57.:32:01.

broken up has been one that is a long-standing question which this

:32:02.:32:04.

House has addressed. There have been various ways of dealing with it

:32:05.:32:07.

through the agency that has been responsible. I think it is right

:32:08.:32:09.

that the changes have that been introduced are on a more level basis

:32:10.:32:13.

and that more people are able to access the support that they need as

:32:14.:32:20.

a result. The Government is rightly focussed on economic growth, jobs

:32:21.:32:23.

and prosperity, something that all of us on these benches can get

:32:24.:32:29.

behind. With that in mind, will she back our highly-competitive bid for

:32:30.:32:40.

funding for the north-west relief road in Shrewsbury which will

:32:41.:32:43.

relieve the congestion our town is facing but dove-tail into that

:32:44.:32:48.

narrative I know that relief road has been an issue that is of

:32:49.:32:51.

particular concern to him and a priority for him and has received

:32:52.:32:56.

local backing. I understand the a bid has been put in for feesibility

:32:57.:33:00.

funding so a business case can be prepared for the scheme. What I can

:33:01.:33:05.

say at the moment, the announcement of the successful bids for

:33:06.:33:08.

feasibility funding is expected very shortly indeed. THE SPEAKER: Jeremy

:33:09.:33:17.

Corbyn. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Government's

:33:18.:33:23.

sustainability and transformation plans for the National Health

:33:24.:33:28.

Service hide ?22 billion of cuts from our service, according to

:33:29.:33:34.

research by the BMA. That risks and I quote, "Starving services of

:33:35.:33:37.

resources and patients of vital care." That comes from Dr Mark

:33:38.:33:42.

Porter of the BMA. When he calls this process a mess,

:33:43.:33:49.

where is he wrong? The National Health Service is

:33:50.:33:53.

indeed looking for savings within the NHS which will be reinvested in

:33:54.:34:00.

the NHS. And I would remind the right

:34:01.:34:02.

honourable gentleman it is this Government that is providing, not

:34:03.:34:07.

just the ?8 billion of extra funding the NHS requested but ?10 billion of

:34:08.:34:12.

extra funding requested by the National Health Service and the

:34:13.:34:15.

sustainability and transformation plans are being developed at local

:34:16.:34:19.

levels, in the interests of local people by local clinicians.

:34:20.:34:24.

It's very strange the Prime Minister should say, that Mr Speaker, because

:34:25.:34:30.

the Health Select Committee, chaired by the honourable friend the member

:34:31.:34:36.

for Totnes says it is ?4.5 billion, not ?10 billion. There is quite a

:34:37.:34:40.

big difference there. Mr Speaker, part of the reason for the strain on

:34:41.:34:44.

the National Health Service is more than 1 million people are not

:34:45.:34:46.

receiving the social care that they need. As a result of this, there has

:34:47.:34:51.

been an increase in emergency admissions for older patients.

:34:52.:34:55.

Margaret wrote to me this week saying... It's not funny.

:34:56.:35:07.

She described how her 89-year-old mother suffered two falls, leading

:35:08.:35:11.

to hospital admissions, due to the lack of nursing care and went on to

:35:12.:35:17.

say, "My mother is worth more than this." What action will the Prime

:35:18.:35:23.

Minister take to stop the neglect of older people, which ends up forcing

:35:24.:35:27.

them to take A admissions when they should be cared for, at home or

:35:28.:35:32.

in a care home? Well, of course social care is an

:35:33.:35:36.

area of concern and social care is a key issue for many people. That's

:35:37.:35:40.

why the Government has introduced the Better Care Fund and why the

:35:41.:35:46.

Government has introduced the Social Care precept for local authorities

:35:47.:35:49.

and we are encouraged the working together of the health service and

:35:50.:35:53.

local authorities to deal with precisely the issues he has raised

:35:54.:35:57.

on social care and bedblocking. But I will just say this to the right

:35:58.:36:02.

honourable gentleman. We've introduced the Better Fund and

:36:03.:36:05.

social care precept. Let's look at what Labour did in their 13 years.

:36:06.:36:17.

They said they'd deal with social care in the 97 manifesto. Introduced

:36:18.:36:22.

a Royal Commission in 1999. A Greene Paper in 2005. A review in 2006.

:36:23.:36:33.

Another Paper in 2007, and another green Paper in 2009. Three years and

:36:34.:36:39.

they did nothing. Mr Speaker, as the Prime Minister

:36:40.:36:44.

well knows, health spending trebled under the last Labour Government.

:36:45.:36:54.

And the levels of satisfaction with the National Health Service were at

:36:55.:37:01.

their highest, ever, in 2010. This Government's choice was to cut

:37:02.:37:07.

social care by 4.6 billion pounds in the last Parliament. At the same

:37:08.:37:12.

time, as they found the space, shall we say, to cut billions in corporate

:37:13.:37:19.

taxation bills. That means it's affecting patients leaving hospital

:37:20.:37:24.

as well. In the last four years, the number of patients unable to be

:37:25.:37:28.

transferred from hospital, due to the lack of adequate social care,

:37:29.:37:35.

has increased by one-third. Will the Prime Minister ensure her Government

:37:36.:37:38.

guarantees all of our elderly people, the dignity they deserve?

:37:39.:37:45.

I recognise the importance of caring for elderly people and providing

:37:46.:37:48.

them with the dignity that they deserve. He says that this

:37:49.:37:53.

Government has done nothing on social care, I repeat, we have

:37:54.:37:57.

introduced the social care preset, that is being made use of by my

:37:58.:38:01.

local authority and by his local authority. We have also introduced

:38:02.:38:06.

the Better Care Fund. He talks about support for elderly people. Which

:38:07.:38:11.

Government is it that has put the triple lock in place for pensioners,

:38:12.:38:15.

to ensure the largest increase in pensions for elderly people. The

:38:16.:38:19.

precept is a drop in the ocean compared to what is necessary for

:38:20.:38:21.

social care. I will give you an example, Mr

:38:22.:38:26.

Speaker, the whole House I'm sure would have been appalled in the

:38:27.:38:30.

revelations in the BBC Panorama programme this week, showing older

:38:31.:38:35.

people systematically mistreated. The Care Quality Commission's

:38:36.:38:42.

assessment that care homes, run by the Mall, ey Group require

:38:43.:38:45.

improvement and have issued notices. The commission goes on to say that

:38:46.:38:50.

the owner has allowed sfrs to deteriorate further and has "Utterly

:38:51.:38:53.

neglected the duty of care to the residents of these homes." What

:38:54.:38:57.

action is her Government going to take to protect the residents of

:38:58.:39:04.

those homes? The right honourable gentleman raises the issue of the

:39:05.:39:07.

quality of care that is provided in homes and the way in which elderly

:39:08.:39:10.

people are treated. I'm sure everybody is appalled when we see

:39:11.:39:14.

examples of poor and terrible treatment that is be given to

:39:15.:39:17.

elderly and vulnerable people in care homes. What we do about it is

:39:18.:39:23.

ensure that we have the CQC, which is able it step in, which takes

:39:24.:39:28.

action, which has powers to make sure that nobody, nobody in the

:39:29.:39:31.

chain of responsibility is immune from legal accountability but we

:39:32.:39:35.

know that there is more that can be done and that's why the CQC is

:39:36.:39:40.

looking into ways in which it can improve its processes, increase its

:39:41.:39:43.

efficiency. My honourable friend, the minister for community health

:39:44.:39:48.

and care is going to be writing to the CQC shortly, to look at how we

:39:49.:39:54.

can seek to improve what they do. It is the CQC that deals with these

:39:55.:39:58.

issues, we have that in place. Is there more we can do? Yes. And we

:39:59.:40:03.

are doing it. Mr Speaker, the problem seems to be that that home

:40:04.:40:08.

was understaffed and we shouldn't be blamingp often underpaid and

:40:09.:40:11.

hard-pressed care workers, he with should be ensuring there are enough

:40:12.:40:15.

of them, properly paid in all of those homes. There was a serious

:40:16.:40:18.

problem of understaffing and it was the last Labour Government that

:40:19.:40:27.

established the CQC. I think a warning notice is insufficient. We

:40:28.:40:30.

stronger action. Yesterday the Government proposed patients may

:40:31.:40:34.

have to show passports or other ID to access non-emergency health care.

:40:35.:40:38.

Has the Government considered that the impact of this on elderly

:40:39.:40:43.

people? The last census showed us 9.5 million people in this country

:40:44.:40:49.

don't have passports. Rather than distracting people with divisive and

:40:50.:40:52.

impractical policies, could the Prime Minister provide the NHS and

:40:53.:40:56.

social care with the money this it needs to care for the people who

:40:57.:41:02.

need the support? Over the course of this Parliament, the Government will

:41:03.:41:07.

be spending half a trillion pounds on the national health service. The

:41:08.:41:12.

right honourable gentleman asks about a process to ensure that

:41:13.:41:16.

people who are receiving NHS treatment are entitled to receive

:41:17.:41:21.

that NHS treatment. For many years there has been a concern about

:41:22.:41:26.

health tourism, about people turning up in the UK, accessing health

:41:27.:41:29.

services and not paying for them. We want it make sure that those who are

:41:30.:41:37.

entitled to use the services are indeed able to have those free at

:41:38.:41:41.

the point of delivery but we deal with health tourism and those who

:41:42.:41:44.

should be paying for the use of our health service. Mr Speaker, Sir

:41:45.:41:49.

Simon Stevens told us two weeks ago that the next three years are going

:41:50.:41:54.

to be the toughest ever for NHS funding and that 2018 would see

:41:55.:41:58.

health spending per person cut for the first time ever in this country.

:41:59.:42:05.

. The NAO reported that the cost of health tourism is over 100 times

:42:06.:42:10.

less than the ?22 billion of cuts the NHS is facing from this

:42:11.:42:14.

Government. The reality is, Mr Speaker, under this Government,

:42:15.:42:18.

there are 6,000 fewer mental health nurses. There are a record 3.9

:42:19.:42:25.

million people on NHS waiting lists. All of us who visit A departments

:42:26.:42:29.

know the stress the staff are under and that the waiting time is getting

:42:30.:42:34.

longer and longer and that there are 1 million people in this country not

:42:35.:42:38.

receiving the social care that they need. So, instead of looking for

:42:39.:42:43.

excuses and scapegoats, shouldn't the Prime Minister be ensuring that

:42:44.:42:47.

health and social care is properly resourced and properly funded to

:42:48.:42:52.

take away the stress and fear that people face in old age, over social

:42:53.:42:57.

care and the stress that is placed on our very hard-working NHS and

:42:58.:43:05.

social care staff? Billions of pounds extra into social care

:43:06.:43:10.

through the social care precept and the Better Care Fund. Half a

:43:11.:43:14.

trillion being spented on the National Health Service. A record

:43:15.:43:17.

level of investment in mental health in the National Health Service. THE

:43:18.:43:23.

SPEAKER: Order. Members must not shout down or attempt to shout down

:43:24.:43:27.

the Prime Minister. The question has been asked and it was heard and the

:43:28.:43:30.

answer must be heard. The Prime Minister.

:43:31.:43:33.

Well, there is a fundamental point that the right honourable gentleman

:43:34.:43:36.

refrains from mentioning, and it is this: We can only afford to pay for

:43:37.:43:42.

the National Health Service and for social care if we have a strong

:43:43.:43:46.

economy, creating wealth. And that's precisely what he is going to hear

:43:47.:43:50.

Chancellor of the Exchequer in a few minutes' time. Thank you, Mr

:43:51.:43:59.

Speaker. On the 23rd June, my constituents voted by a margin of

:44:00.:44:05.

62% to 38% to leave the European Union.

:44:06.:44:14.

Many of those people are unhappy and frustrated at what they see are

:44:15.:44:18.

delaying tactics by some remainers who don't seem to understand the

:44:19.:44:22.

meaning of the word democracy. THE SPEAKER: Order, this is very

:44:23.:44:25.

discourteous. The honourable gentleman has a legitimate question

:44:26.:44:30.

and that question and every other question should be fully and with

:44:31.:44:33.

politeness, heard. The honourable gentleman.

:44:34.:44:39.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will repeat it. Remainers who

:44:40.:44:47.

don't seem to understand the meaning of the word "democracy" which I

:44:48.:44:52.

would remind them, government by the people, especially rule of the

:44:53.:44:55.

majority. With that in mind, what reassurance can my right honourable

:44:56.:44:58.

friend give my constituents and me that Article 50 will be triggered by

:44:59.:44:59.

March next year? That we will trigger article 50 by

:45:00.:45:14.

March next year. My honourable friend is right. The referendum was

:45:15.:45:20.

decided by this Parliament 6-1 that people should have the opportunity

:45:21.:45:24.

to vote on membership of the European Union, the vote was held,

:45:25.:45:28.

the turnout was high, public gave their verdict. There must be no

:45:29.:45:31.

second referendum, no attempt to weasel out of it, this is the

:45:32.:45:34.

government that will deliver on the vote of the British people. Mr

:45:35.:45:40.

Speaker, we on these benches have repeatedly brought up the

:45:41.:45:44.

devastating impact on disabled people from the UK benefits system.

:45:45.:45:51.

The government plans to cut support for people with long-term health

:45:52.:45:54.

difficulties by ?30 per week. Last week might SNP colleague proposed a

:45:55.:45:59.

motion which was passed by this house with support from both Labour

:46:00.:46:04.

and Conservative members for these cuts to be postponed. Will the Prime

:46:05.:46:09.

Minister act on the vote of this house? Let me say to the Right

:46:10.:46:13.

Honourable gentleman what we've been doing in relation to benefits for

:46:14.:46:18.

disabled people. The overall funding for disability benefits will be

:46:19.:46:23.

higher in every year up to 2020 than it was in 2010. We have been

:46:24.:46:26.

focusing support on those who most need it, those who are not able to

:46:27.:46:31.

get into the workplace. For those who are able at some stage to get

:46:32.:46:34.

into the workplace we have been providing a wider package of

:46:35.:46:39.

support. I'm pleased to say over the last three years nearly 600,000 more

:46:40.:46:43.

disabled people are in the workplace with the dignity of having a job,

:46:44.:46:46.

which is what many people with disabilities want to have. We are

:46:47.:46:52.

focusing on help for those who need it and helping those that want to

:46:53.:46:55.

get into the workplace to do that. It was widely trailed that the Prime

:46:56.:47:00.

Minister will make changes impacting on benefit recipients in work, will

:47:01.:47:04.

the Prime Minister confirmed she has no intention of helping people with

:47:05.:47:08.

disabilities and medical conditions? Why should people who are unable to

:47:09.:47:13.

earn a living it punished for their disability or illness by losing ?30

:47:14.:47:17.

a week? Does she have any intention of changing that. I have just set

:47:18.:47:21.

out for the right honourable gentleman the ways in which we are

:47:22.:47:26.

providing support and help for those people who have disabilities. As I

:47:27.:47:32.

said, the overall funding for spending on disability benefits will

:47:33.:47:35.

be higher in every year to 2020 than it was in 2010. What it is also

:47:36.:47:39.

important to recognise that when we give support for people with

:47:40.:47:43.

disabilities it isn't simply about the benefits system and how much

:47:44.:47:47.

money they are given, for those who are able to get into work, and on

:47:48.:47:52.

that part of the EASA, we provide packages that are outside benefits

:47:53.:47:56.

as well, as we recognise that people want the dignity of getting into the

:47:57.:48:00.

workplace. That's what we are helping people with disabilities who

:48:01.:48:11.

can work to do. Simon Burns. Will my right honourable friend agree that

:48:12.:48:16.

thousands of road commuters, including many of my constituents

:48:17.:48:20.

who use the a 12, are travelling on roads that need to be repaired and

:48:21.:48:27.

upgraded? To improve connectivity and to speed up daily commute times,

:48:28.:48:31.

would my right honourable friend accept that the proposed ?1.3

:48:32.:48:38.

billion investment in improving our road network is warmly welcomed and

:48:39.:48:44.

will do a great deal to enhance connectivity in the country? My

:48:45.:48:51.

honourable friend is absolutely right. The importance of

:48:52.:48:56.

infrastructure expenditure in helping to deal with the issue of

:48:57.:49:01.

productivity in our economy, and I'm pleased that that ?1.3 billion for

:49:02.:49:05.

new roads does show us investing in the long-term future for Britain. It

:49:06.:49:09.

is about delivering jobs, delivering economic growth, it is about making

:49:10.:49:13.

sure that this is an economy that works for everyone. It's just one

:49:14.:49:18.

part of the package that we are proposing. Of course my right

:49:19.:49:21.

honourable friend the Chancellor will be setting our proposals out

:49:22.:49:28.

more clearly in a few minutes time. One of my constituents is imprisoned

:49:29.:49:34.

in Iran. A British national has been separated from her husband and her

:49:35.:49:37.

two-year-old daughter for eight months now. She has been on hunger

:49:38.:49:43.

strike and is now suicidal. The Prime Minister needs to reunite this

:49:44.:49:47.

mother, this daughter, this wife with her family. Mr Speaker, will it

:49:48.:49:58.

take her death for the government to start taking her seriously?

:49:59.:50:03.

Obviously this is a very difficult time for the whole family and I'm

:50:04.:50:06.

sure we are all concerned about the reports of the impact that detention

:50:07.:50:13.

is having on her health as she is in detention in Errani. This has been

:50:14.:50:21.

repeatedly raised with the Iranians government. I personally raised it

:50:22.:50:27.

on the 20th of September in New York when I stressed the importance of

:50:28.:50:30.

finding a resolution as soon as possible. I have requested

:50:31.:50:41.

assurances that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe will be allowed

:50:42.:50:48.

representation and contact with her family. The British government

:50:49.:50:53.

remains ready to help bringing Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's daughter back to

:50:54.:50:58.

Britain if that is the request. Does my right honourable friend that most

:50:59.:51:01.

of our social problems are either caused or aggravated by the acute

:51:02.:51:08.

shortage of housing? So even if, as I hope, we managed to reduce the net

:51:09.:51:12.

immigration to this country, we will have to build far more new homes. So

:51:13.:51:17.

isn't the decision, the recommendation by the European

:51:18.:51:20.

banking authority, to increase by 50% the reserves banks must hold

:51:21.:51:27.

against house-building, making it even more costly for them to land

:51:28.:51:30.

for housing than for unsecured credit cards, profoundly unhelpful

:51:31.:51:39.

and perverse? Well I'm sure my right honourable friend will recognise

:51:40.:51:43.

that we, of course, are subject to our own regulation authorities. The

:51:44.:51:47.

point he makes about the importance of house-building is absolutely

:51:48.:51:50.

correct, we do need to build more homes. That is something the

:51:51.:51:54.

government has been doing, we've seen something like 900,000 new

:51:55.:51:59.

homes built since 2010, but there is more for us to do and that is what

:52:00.:52:04.

this government is working on. Brexit secretary and the Foreign

:52:05.:52:07.

Secretary are described by a senior German politician as having no idea

:52:08.:52:14.

what Brexit really means. The Times reports today that EU ambassadors

:52:15.:52:20.

think the Foreign Secretary's more colourful outbursts are damaging our

:52:21.:52:26.

relationship with member states. When is the Prime Minister going to

:52:27.:52:30.

get a grip on her ministers and when is she going to demonstrate to the

:52:31.:52:35.

country and to our EU colleagues that she has a coherent, workable

:52:36.:52:44.

plan for Brexit? I've been very clear in this house on many

:52:45.:52:47.

occasions about the plan that we have for Brexit. Crucially we will

:52:48.:52:52.

be leaving the European Union and we will be triggering article 50 by the

:52:53.:52:55.

end of March next year and that's when the formal negotiations will

:52:56.:53:00.

start. But it is absolutely right that we do not set out, at this

:53:01.:53:03.

stage, every single detail of our proposed negotiating strategy,

:53:04.:53:07.

because that would be the best way to get the worst possible deal for

:53:08.:53:14.

Britain. As we leave the European Union, maintaining the UK's cutting

:53:15.:53:20.

edge in world leadership in scientific and technological

:53:21.:53:22.

discovery is of paramount importance to our industries and universities.

:53:23.:53:27.

Can I welcome the Prime Minister's announcement that each year we will

:53:28.:53:30.

invest a further ?2 billion in investment and of element to boost

:53:31.:53:34.

our science and engineering base. Isn't this just the type of vital

:53:35.:53:39.

support that our businesses and researchers need, rather than the

:53:40.:53:43.

threats from the Labour Party to slash the research and development

:53:44.:53:45.

tax credits that would hamper innovation and harm our economy? My

:53:46.:53:51.

right honourable friend is absolutely right. The extra

:53:52.:53:54.

investment we will be putting into research and development is a

:53:55.:53:59.

crucial part of the long-term task we have of ensuring that we have the

:54:00.:54:02.

economy and the growth and prosperity in this country that we

:54:03.:54:08.

need. The new funds will be able to put us at the cutting edge of

:54:09.:54:12.

scientific discovery, which I saw for myself, we are already doing

:54:13.:54:17.

this. I was at the Wellcome genomics campus in Cambridge on Monday, able

:54:18.:54:22.

to see the really exciting, really transformational work that is being

:54:23.:54:26.

done, coming out of the knowledge base and scientific research here in

:54:27.:54:29.

the United Kingdom. We want to see more of that and that is why we will

:54:30.:54:35.

be reinvesting in it. Aleppo's hospitals are destroyed, Syrians who

:54:36.:54:40.

avoid the barrel bombs and chlorine gas are starving from the Russian

:54:41.:54:46.

blockade. We must do more. So will she revisit the prospect for a

:54:47.:54:53.

strops, and will she looked at backing the campaign to stop this

:54:54.:54:58.

daily perpetrator of war crimes of stripping them of its right to hold

:54:59.:55:07.

the 2018 World Cup -- will she revisit the prospect of aid drops.

:55:08.:55:10.

The honourable gentleman is correct to raise the appalling itches taking

:55:11.:55:13.

place in Aleppo and it is right that we, along with our international

:55:14.:55:17.

allies, should be doing all we can to bring this to a stop. He will

:55:18.:55:22.

recognise that the issue of who hosts sporting events is not in the

:55:23.:55:26.

government's remit. What we are doing is working with our

:55:27.:55:28.

international allies to put more pressure on Russia to stop the

:55:29.:55:33.

appalling atrocities, the appalling attacks taking place in Aleppo. What

:55:34.:55:39.

we want to see is an agreement for a political transition to a Syria

:55:40.:55:44.

without President Assad. Does my right honourable friend agree that

:55:45.:55:48.

if the UK is to remain competitive, and our citizens are to enjoy the

:55:49.:55:52.

benefits of a digital revolution, it is essential that we should be at

:55:53.:55:56.

the forefront of deployment of both ultra fast broadband and five G

:55:57.:56:01.

mobile connectivity? Can I therefore welcome the announcement that we are

:56:02.:56:07.

led to believe may be made shortly of a ?1 billion investment to

:56:08.:56:12.

achieve this. Well, my right honourable friend will, of course,

:56:13.:56:17.

be waiting in anticipation for my right honourable friend the

:56:18.:56:21.

Chancellor's Autumn Statement, but he's absolutely right that as we

:56:22.:56:24.

look at improving collectivity in this country, as we look to the

:56:25.:56:29.

economy of the future, the provision of superfast broadband, the

:56:30.:56:32.

provision of those new technological opportunities for people is

:56:33.:56:35.

absolutely a crucial part of that, and that is something this

:56:36.:56:39.

government recognises and will act on. One day last week four police

:56:40.:56:44.

officers in my constituency were assaulted over a single 24 hour

:56:45.:56:49.

period. There are over 23,000 assaults on police officers last

:56:50.:56:52.

year. An assault on a police officer is an assault on society. What will

:56:53.:56:57.

the Prime Minister do to make sure the toughest deterrence are in place

:56:58.:57:00.

to reduce attacks on from mine officers, and restore the number of

:57:01.:57:08.

police on our streets? Can I send our best wishes to those police

:57:09.:57:11.

officers who were assaulted in her constituency last week. It is

:57:12.:57:16.

important that we recognise, when police officers go out on duty, and

:57:17.:57:22.

indeed off-duty, they sometimes find themselves intervening in situations

:57:23.:57:25.

where they find themselves on the receiving end of assaults and

:57:26.:57:28.

violence against them. They are willing to go forward in the line of

:57:29.:57:33.

duty where others are not. And we recognise that. What we have done in

:57:34.:57:37.

relation to this is, one of the things we want to do is to actually

:57:38.:57:41.

identify rather better the number of assaults taking place. That's why

:57:42.:57:45.

last year we issued some provisional figures, we are improving those

:57:46.:57:48.

figures this year. Sentencing guidelines already allow for an

:57:49.:57:52.

assault on a police officer to be taken as an aggravating factor into

:57:53.:57:57.

account. Newton elements like body worn video cameras help to provide

:57:58.:58:04.

evidence to make sure people can be brought to justice and deter

:58:05.:58:07.

assaults in the first place. I know the Prime Minister shares my concern

:58:08.:58:12.

at the level of Acute Hospital bed blocking. But she agree with me that

:58:13.:58:18.

part of the solution is to promote Community Hospital beds in places

:58:19.:58:22.

where they still exist in places like Warminster and Shaftesbury as

:58:23.:58:28.

part of a stability process. As regards the best EP process, that

:58:29.:58:34.

will take place at local level that these proposals will be considered

:58:35.:58:37.

and put forward by local clinicians. But the concept of being able to

:58:38.:58:41.

deal with bed blocking in a variety of ways is absolutely right. There

:58:42.:58:44.

are good examples around the country where having those step-down beds

:58:45.:58:50.

available is actually resolving the problem of bed blocking. There are

:58:51.:58:54.

other ways in which it is being done, in parts of the country social

:58:55.:58:58.

workers are employed by hospital trusts for example. It is good to

:58:59.:59:01.

recognise the good practice when it is being done and we should see more

:59:02.:59:05.

of that across the country. Earlier this month IRA man turned lawyer

:59:06.:59:11.

Kieran Conway confessed to the BBC that he took part in robberies,

:59:12.:59:16.

bombings and gun attacks that murdered British soldiers. He stated

:59:17.:59:21.

he will never disclose information on any fellow IRA man despite

:59:22.:59:25.

knowing details of IRA actions that he himself defined as constituting

:59:26.:59:30.

war crimes. Can the Prime Minister assure me that Her Majesty 's

:59:31.:59:33.

government will apply for the extradition of this terrorist for

:59:34.:59:36.

questioning from the Republic of Ireland? The question as to whether

:59:37.:59:42.

or not an individual would be extradited or a request would be put

:59:43.:59:46.

in for extradition would be for the appropriate prosecution and

:59:47.:59:51.

investigation authorities to take. What I do say to the honourable

:59:52.:59:55.

gentleman is that we do of course recognise the concerns for those

:59:56.:00:00.

cases where it is still possible to bring people to justice, and

:00:01.:00:03.

obviously want to see that being done. Mr Speaker, during the last

:00:04.:00:09.

six years we've had three major referendums all with varying degrees

:00:10.:00:13.

of excitement. Would the Prime Minister agree with me that you can

:00:14.:00:17.

have too much excitement, will see therefore rule out any further

:00:18.:00:18.

referendums in this Parliament? Well, my honourable friend is trying

:00:19.:00:30.

to set me down a route. One thing I will certainly rule out is a second

:00:31.:00:33.

referendum on whether or not we leave the European Union.

:00:34.:00:44.

Mr Speaker, there has been a financial appeal launched because of

:00:45.:00:48.

the increasing numbers of people finding themselves homeless as the

:00:49.:00:53.

direct result of the UK Government's pursuit of austerity. How account

:00:54.:00:58.

Prime Minister sleep in her warm bed at night, knowing her Government

:00:59.:01:03.

policies have confined people to a cold Christmas? The Government is

:01:04.:01:07.

taking action in a variety of aof ways to address homelessness. We

:01:08.:01:11.

need it make sure we see more homes being built in this country. I say

:01:12.:01:15.

this to the honourable lady. She talks about austerity in the tone

:01:16.:01:19.

she refers to T actually austerity is about us living within our means.

:01:20.:01:29.

And we should always remember, when we are talking about Government

:01:30.:01:32.

providing support for individuals, that tax payers have to pay for that

:01:33.:01:37.

support and many tax payers are themselves struggling to get by.

:01:38.:01:41.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister will be aware

:01:42.:01:45.

that yesterday the peninsula rail task force launched its report which

:01:46.:01:48.

was commissioned following the storms which serviced Devon and

:01:49.:01:52.

Cornwall's vital rail link as it was severed again, this time by

:01:53.:01:55.

flooding. Does she welcome the report and will she commit the

:01:56.:02:00.

Government to ensuring the vision it outlines is delivered? I thank my

:02:01.:02:04.

honourable friend for his question. Can I suggest he exercises a little

:02:05.:02:07.

more patience and listens very carefully to what my right

:02:08.:02:09.

honourable friend the Chancellor will have to say.

:02:10.:02:17.

Mr Speaker, in these uncertain times, we all should agree that

:02:18.:02:22.

Britain needs strong defence. How account Prime Minister justify her

:02:23.:02:29.

Government's decision to scrap all the Navy's heavyweight surface to

:02:30.:02:34.

surface guided missiles without any replacement? I don't accept the

:02:35.:02:40.

picture the honourable gentleman represents of the Armed Forces, we

:02:41.:02:44.

are investing billions of pounds to ensuring our Armed Forces have the

:02:45.:02:48.

missiles, the boats, the ships for the royal navy and other pieces of

:02:49.:02:50.

equipment for the other Armed Forces. So the picture he presents

:02:51.:02:54.

is not the picture I recognise. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

:02:55.:02:59.

Would my right honourable friend agree that it would be good for

:03:00.:03:07.

confidence in the rule of law if judges did not enter into

:03:08.:03:10.

speculative public thoughts on cases that they are about to hear? We

:03:11.:03:18.

value n this country, the independence of our judiciary. -- in

:03:19.:03:24.

this country. That's the independence for the judiciary when

:03:25.:03:27.

they come to make their judgments in court but also they are independent

:03:28.:03:30.

and it is for them to determine what they choose to put in their speechts

:03:31.:03:34.

or not, not for the Government to tell them what to do. Mr Speaker, as

:03:35.:03:45.

millions of public sector workers face another year of suppressed pay.

:03:46.:03:51.

After another week of shambolic Brexit negotiations, and with a

:03:52.:03:55.

National Health Service facing an winter crisis, facing ap winter

:03:56.:03:59.

crisis and crying out for cash, does the Prime Minister worry that her

:04:00.:04:02.

Government is only just about managing?

:04:03.:04:11.

Well, I have to say to the right honourable gentleman that we are

:04:12.:04:13.

very clear about the amounts of money we are putting into the

:04:14.:04:17.

National Health Service. He talks about the negotiations, actually the

:04:18.:04:20.

negotiations for us leaving the European Union don't formally start

:04:21.:04:24.

until we trigger Article 50. We will be triggering Article 50 by the end

:04:25.:04:29.

of March next year. What the right honourable gentleman wants to do is

:04:30.:04:33.

to stop us from leaving the European Union by denying the people, the

:04:34.:04:38.

decision and deliverability of the vote they took, rightly on, 23rd

:04:39.:04:42.

June. He wants to deny people what they want, we are going to give it

:04:43.:04:47.

to them. May I raise with the Prime Minister the concerns of millions of

:04:48.:04:50.

drivers and hauliers across the United Kingdom who worry about the

:04:51.:04:54.

cost of driving, cost of fuel duty, whether her Government will look at

:04:55.:04:58.

keeping that down and also at the pump pricing and how forecourt

:04:59.:05:04.

pricing is worked as oil prices change, prices jump like a rocket

:05:05.:05:08.

and fall like a feather. I recognise, as my honourable friend

:05:09.:05:11.

says many people look with very great concern about the cost of

:05:12.:05:14.

motoring in this country. I suggest, as I have done, to some of my other

:05:15.:05:19.

honourable friends, he is a little more patient and waits for the

:05:20.:05:21.

Chancellor's Autumn Statement. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Prime

:05:22.:05:27.

Minister has talked about her worries with social care but surely

:05:28.:05:33.

we have to judge her by her actions. In the last six years there's been a

:05:34.:05:38.

37%, on average, cut in local authority funding. 57% in my area.

:05:39.:05:42.

And nearly one-quarter of all of those older people in need of social

:05:43.:05:46.

care have been denied any help at all. What is she going to do about

:05:47.:05:55.

it? The Right Honourable lady might have noticed I have been asked

:05:56.:05:59.

several questions about social care and I will give the answer...

:06:00.:06:03.

I will give the answer I have given previously. What this Government is

:06:04.:06:07.

doing about social care is putting more in through the Better Care

:06:08.:06:10.

Fund, giving local authorities the opportunity through the social care

:06:11.:06:13.

preset and making sure that health and social care come together to

:06:14.:06:16.

ensure that we deal with the issue of bedblocking.

:06:17.:06:21.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, how many of us would charge into a

:06:22.:06:29.

darkened store at night knowing that inside there three masked-wearing

:06:30.:06:32.

crow-war wielding thugs trying to rob a store My two constituents,

:06:33.:06:38.

Nigel and Grant did just that and by intervening, the thugs fled, leaving

:06:39.:06:43.

the money, the staff were hurt less, and one of the gentlemen was hurt

:06:44.:06:46.

himself. Will my right honourable friend join me in praising their

:06:47.:06:53.

courage and selflessness in this extraordinary act of bravado? I

:06:54.:07:02.

absolutely... I absolutely agree with my

:07:03.:07:07.

honourable friend and I commend the bravery and courage that was shown

:07:08.:07:12.

by those two individuals. I think he said Nigel and Grant who stepped

:07:13.:07:14.

into that situation who ensure that it was not as bad as it might have

:07:15.:07:19.

been. That is incredible bravery. There are many members of the public

:07:20.:07:22.

who would not have been willing to step forward in that way. Can he

:07:23.:07:28.

pass my best wishes and I'm sure the best wishes of the House on to those

:07:29.:07:31.

individuals. Does the Prime Minister believe that

:07:32.:07:36.

big companies should put a woke on the board? I believe that we should

:07:37.:07:42.

see workers representation on boards and I make no apology for the fact

:07:43.:07:45.

that this Government is going to deliver on that.

:07:46.:07:50.

For all their years in Government, the Labour Party did nothing. Speak

:07:51.:07:59.

speck order. -- THE SPEAKER: Order. Statement the First Secretary of

:08:00.:08:02.

State and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

:08:03.:08:09.

Chancellor Phil Hammond. Mr Speaker, it is a privilege to

:08:10.:08:14.

report today on an economy which the IMF predicts will be the

:08:15.:08:17.

fastest-growing major advanced economy in the world this year.

:08:18.:08:23.

An economy with employment at a record high and unemployment at an

:08:24.:08:26.

11-year low. An economy which, through the hard

:08:27.:08:30.

work of the British people, has bounced back from the depths of

:08:31.:08:36.

Labour's recession. And an economy, which has confounded

:08:37.:08:41.

commentators at hem and abroad wits strengths and its resilience -- at

:08:42.:08:46.

home and abroad with its sfrenges and resilience since the British

:08:47.:08:49.

people decided to leave the European Union and chart a new future for our

:08:50.:08:57.

country. M Mr Speaker that will change the course of history, it has

:08:58.:09:03.

thrown into sharp relieve the economy that will ensure our

:09:04.:09:06.

success. The global reach of our services industries, the strength of

:09:07.:09:10.

our science and hi-tech manufacturing base and the cutting

:09:11.:09:13.

edge British businesses that are he had looking the world in disruptive

:09:14.:09:16.

technologies. But it is a decision that also makes more urgent, than

:09:17.:09:22.

ever, the need to tackle our economy's long-term weaknesses, like

:09:23.:09:26.

the productivity gap, the housing challenge and the damaging imbalance

:09:27.:09:30.

in economic growth and prosperity across our country.

:09:31.:09:35.

Mr Speaker, we resolve today to conp front those challenges head on. --

:09:36.:09:38.

confront those challenges head on. To prepare our country to seize the

:09:39.:09:43.

opportunities ahead. And in doing so, to build an economy that works

:09:44.:09:51.

for everyone. A an economy where every corner of

:09:52.:09:55.

this United Kingdom is part of our national success. Mr Speaker, I want

:09:56.:10:00.

to pay tribute to my predecessor, my right honourable friend, the member

:10:01.:10:07.

for Tatton. My style, Mr Speaker, will, of

:10:08.:10:14.

course be different from his. I suspect I will prove no more adept

:10:15.:10:19.

at pulling rabbits from hats than my successor at Foreign Secretary has

:10:20.:10:22.

been from retrieving balls from the back of scrums. But my focus on

:10:23.:10:28.

building Britain's long-term future will be the same. He took over an

:10:29.:10:36.

economy on the brink of collapse. With the highest budget deficit in

:10:37.:10:47.

our history and brought it down by two-thirds. That is a record of

:10:48.:10:52.

which he should be proud but times have moved on and the task now is to

:10:53.:10:58.

prepare the economy for the exit of the EU and match fit for the

:10:59.:11:02.

transition that will follow. We will contain our commitment for fiscal

:11:03.:11:07.

discipline, while recognising the need for investment to drive

:11:08.:11:10.

productivity. And fiscal head room to support the

:11:11.:11:13.

economy through the transition. Mr Speaker, let me turn now to the

:11:14.:11:21.

forecast. Since 2010, the Office for Budget Responsibility has provided

:11:22.:11:24.

an independent economic and fiscal forecast to which the Government

:11:25.:11:28.

must respond. Gone are the days when the Chancellor could mark his own

:11:29.:11:33.

homework. I thank Robert Choalk and his team for their hard work.

:11:34.:11:39.

Today's OBR forecast is for growth to be 2.1% in 2016, high than

:11:40.:11:46.

forecast in March N 2017, the OBR forecast growth to slow to 2.4%,

:11:47.:11:52.

which they attribute to lobar investment and weaker consumer

:11:53.:11:56.

demand driven respectively by greater uncertainty and by higher

:11:57.:11:59.

inflation resulting from sterling depreciation. That is slower, of

:12:00.:12:05.

course, than we would wish. But, still, equivalent to the IMF's

:12:06.:12:08.

forecasts for Germany and higher than the forecast for growth in many

:12:09.:12:13.

of our European neighbours, including France and Italy. A fact

:12:14.:12:18.

that will, no doubt, be a source of very considerable irritation to

:12:19.:12:23.

some. As the affects of uncertainty

:12:24.:12:29.

diminish, the OBR's forecast growth recovering to 1.7% in 2018, 2.1% in

:12:30.:12:37.

2019-2020 and 2% in 202 #. While the OBR is clear it cannot predict the

:12:38.:12:42.

deal the UK will strike the EU, it's current view is that the referendum

:12:43.:12:46.

decision means that potential growth over the forecast period is likely

:12:47.:12:51.

to be 2.4% lower than would otherwise have been the case.

:12:52.:12:57.

The OBR acknowledges that there is a higher degree of uncertainty around

:12:58.:13:01.

these figures than usual. Despite slower growth, the UK labour

:13:02.:13:07.

market is forecast to remain robust. We have delivered over 2.7 million

:13:08.:13:12.

new jobs since 2010 and this forecast, this forecast, Mr Speaker,

:13:13.:13:16.

shows that number growing in every year.

:13:17.:13:22.

Another 500,000 jobs created over the OBR forecast, providing security

:13:23.:13:26.

for working people across the length and breadth of Britain.

:13:27.:13:31.

Mr Speaker, for those who claim that the recovery is just a south-east

:13:32.:13:36.

phenomenon, I have some news. Over the past year, employment grew

:13:37.:13:40.

fastest in the north-east, the claimant count fell fastest in

:13:41.:13:43.

Northern Ireland. Pay grew most strongly in the West Midlands and

:13:44.:13:47.

every UK nation and region saw a record number of people in work.

:13:48.:13:54.

That, Mr Speaker, is a labour market recovery that is working for

:13:55.:13:59.

everyone. Monetary policy has played an

:14:00.:14:02.

important role in supporting growth since the referendum decision. But a

:14:03.:14:08.

credible fiscal policy remains essential for maintaining market

:14:09.:14:10.

confidence and restoring the economy to long-term hale.

:14:11.:14:15.

In -- long-term hale. In view of the uncertainty facing the economy and

:14:16.:14:19.

in the face of slower growth forecastings, we no longer seek to

:14:20.:14:26.

deliver a surplus in 2019-20 but the Prime Minister and I - the Prime

:14:27.:14:30.

Minister and I, Mr Speaker, remain firmly committed to seeing the

:14:31.:14:36.

public finances returned to balance as soon as practicable, while

:14:37.:14:43.

leaving enough flexibility... SHOUTS AND

:14:44.:14:47.

JEERS While leaving enough flexibility to

:14:48.:14:52.

sport economy in the near term. -- to support the economy. Today aim'

:14:53.:14:59.

reporting a new draft charter with three fiscal rules: First the public

:15:00.:15:02.

finances should be returned to balance as early as possible in the

:15:03.:15:10.

next Parliament. And in the... And in the interim, Mr Speaker, sick

:15:11.:15:14.

lickically adjusted borrowing should be below 2% by the end of this

:15:15.:15:17.

Parliament. Second, public sector net debt as

:15:18.:15:24.

share of GDP must be falling by the end of this Parliament. Welfare

:15:25.:15:30.

spending must be within a cap set by the government and monitored by the

:15:31.:15:34.

OBR. In the absence of an effective framework, the welfare bill in our

:15:35.:15:38.

country spiralled out of control with spending on working age

:15:39.:15:41.

benefits trebling in real terms between 1980 and 2010 as a result of

:15:42.:15:48.

the action we have taken since 2010, that has now stabilised. The cat I

:15:49.:15:54.

have announced takes into account the policy changes since the last

:15:55.:16:01.

budget with a realistic baseline -- the cap. I confirm again today that

:16:02.:16:05.

the government has no plans to introduce further welfare savings

:16:06.:16:08.

measures in this Parliament beyond those already announced. I now turn,

:16:09.:16:15.

Mr Speaker, to the OBR fiscal forecast. First I will set out key

:16:16.:16:19.

drivers of changes since the budget. The post-budget changes that were

:16:20.:16:22.

made to welfare and housing policies cost the Exchequer ?8.6 billion over

:16:23.:16:31.

the forecast period. Expected ONS classification changes have added

:16:32.:16:36.

?12 billion since the budget. Tax receipts have been lower than

:16:37.:16:38.

expected this year, causing the OBR to revise down addicted revenues in

:16:39.:16:45.

future. Added to this is a structural effect of rapidly rising

:16:46.:16:49.

incorporation and self-employment, which further erodes revenues.

:16:50.:16:54.

Combine in these pressures with the impact of forecast weaker growth and

:16:55.:16:57.

taking account of the measures I shall announce today, the OBR now

:16:58.:17:02.

forecasts that in cash terms borrowing is set to be ?68.2 billion

:17:03.:17:08.

this year, falling to ?59 billion next year, ?46.5 billion in 18-19,

:17:09.:17:22.

and then ?21.9 million, -- ?20.7 billion, and ?17.2 billion in 21-22.

:17:23.:17:27.

Overall public sector net borrowing as a percentage of GDP will fall

:17:28.:17:32.

from 4% last year to 3.5% this year and will continue to fall over the

:17:33.:17:40.

parliament, reaching 0.7% in 21-22. This will be the lowest deficit as a

:17:41.:17:47.

share of GDP in two decades. The OBR expects security adjusted public

:17:48.:17:55.

sector net borrowing to be 0.8% of GDP in 20-21, comfortable in meeting

:17:56.:18:01.

our target to it to less than 2% and importantly leaving significant

:18:02.:18:04.

flexibility to respond to any headwinds the economy may encounter.

:18:05.:18:10.

The OBR's forecast of higher borrowing and slow asset sales

:18:11.:18:13.

together with the temporary effect of the Bank of England's action to

:18:14.:18:18.

stimulate growth translates into an increased forecast the debt in the

:18:19.:18:23.

near-term. The OBR forecasts that debt will rise from 84.2% of GDP

:18:24.:18:30.

last year to 87.3% this year. Peeking at 90.2% in 2017-18, has the

:18:31.:18:37.

Bank of England's monetary policy interventions approached their full

:18:38.:18:43.

effect. In 2018-19 debt is projected to fall to 89.7% of national income,

:18:44.:18:48.

a first fall in the national debt as a share of GDP since 2001- 02. And

:18:49.:18:53.

it is forecast to continue falling thereafter. Members of the house may

:18:54.:18:58.

be interested to know that stripping out the effects of the Bank of

:18:59.:19:03.

England interventions underlying debt peaks this year at 82.4% of GDP

:19:04.:19:10.

and falls thereafter to 77.7% by 21-22. This the Speaker, it is

:19:11.:19:16.

customary in the run-up to the Autumn Statement to hear

:19:17.:19:19.

representations from the Shadow Chancellor of the day, usually for

:19:20.:19:24.

untenable levels of spending and borrowing. We used to think on this

:19:25.:19:30.

side of the house that Ed Balls's demands were an extreme example, but

:19:31.:19:36.

I have to say the current Shadow Chancellor has outperformed him in

:19:37.:19:43.

the fiscal incompetent sweepstakes. What we don't know is whether he can

:19:44.:19:54.

also dance. He can? Good, good. A second career awaits him, Mr

:19:55.:20:00.

Speaker. I have received, Mr Speaker, some more measured

:20:01.:20:03.

representations from a range of external bodies. Some of them

:20:04.:20:07.

calling for fiscal expansion while others have suggested that there is

:20:08.:20:11.

no need at all to respond to a changed economic outlook. And that

:20:12.:20:14.

reflects, to be fair, the challenge that we face of resolving how best

:20:15.:20:19.

to protect the recovery, build on the economy's manifest strengths,

:20:20.:20:23.

yet at the same time respond appropriately to the warnings of a

:20:24.:20:28.

more difficult period ahead. But with our debt forecast to peak at

:20:29.:20:32.

over 90% next year and the deficit this year of 3.5%, I have reached my

:20:33.:20:38.

own judgment. It is a judgment based on a sober analysis of our fiscal

:20:39.:20:44.

position, but also a realistic appraisal of the weakness of UK

:20:45.:20:48.

productivity, and the urgent need to address our fiscal challenge from

:20:49.:20:52.

both ends. Continuing to control public expenditure but also growing

:20:53.:20:58.

the potential of the economy and protecting the tax base. So we

:20:59.:21:02.

choose in this Autumn Statement to prioritise additional high-value

:21:03.:21:08.

investment, specifically in infrastructure and innovation, that

:21:09.:21:12.

will directly contribute to raising Britain's productivity. And the key

:21:13.:21:20.

judgment we make today is that our hard-won credibility on public

:21:21.:21:23.

spending means that we can fund this commitment in the short-term from

:21:24.:21:28.

additional borrowing while funding all other new policies announced in

:21:29.:21:34.

this Autumn Statement through additional tax and spending

:21:35.:21:38.

measures. That is the responsible way to secure our economy for the

:21:39.:21:43.

long-term. Mr Speaker, the productivity gap is well known to

:21:44.:21:47.

honourable and right Honourable members but shocking nonetheless. It

:21:48.:21:54.

bears repeating, we lack the US and Germany by some 30 percentage points

:21:55.:22:00.

in productivity, but we also lag France by 20 points and Italy by

:22:01.:22:04.

eight points. Which means in the real world it takes a German worker

:22:05.:22:09.

for days to produce what we make in five. And that means, in turn, that

:22:10.:22:16.

too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their

:22:17.:22:19.

counterparts, and that has to change if we are to build an economy that

:22:20.:22:26.

works for everyone. So raising productivity, Mr Speaker, is

:22:27.:22:29.

essential for the high wage, high skill economy that will deliver

:22:30.:22:34.

higher living standards for working people across this country. As a

:22:35.:22:38.

result of decisions taken by my predecessor, public investment is

:22:39.:22:43.

high over this decade than it was over the whole of the period of the

:22:44.:22:48.

last Labour government. But today I can go further. I can announce that

:22:49.:22:51.

we are forming a new national productivity investment fund of ?23

:22:52.:22:57.

billion to be spent on innovation and infrastructure over the next

:22:58.:23:03.

five years. Investing today for the economy of the future. Let me set

:23:04.:23:09.

out for the house how this money will be used. Mr Speaker, we do not

:23:10.:23:15.

invest enough in research, development and innovation. As the

:23:16.:23:20.

pace of technology advances and competition from the rest of the

:23:21.:23:23.

world increases, we must build on our strengths in science and tech

:23:24.:23:28.

innovation to ensure that the next generation of discoveries is not

:23:29.:23:32.

only made here, but is also developed and produced in Britain.

:23:33.:23:36.

So today I can confirm the additional investment in R rising

:23:37.:23:46.

to an extra ?2 billion by 2020-21. Mr Speaker, economic to productive

:23:47.:23:51.

infrastructure directly benefits businesses. But families, too, rely

:23:52.:23:56.

on road, rails, telecoms and especially housing. We've made good

:23:57.:24:01.

progress with the number of new homes being built last year, hitting

:24:02.:24:05.

an eight year high. But for too many the goal of homeownership remains

:24:06.:24:11.

out of reach. In October my right honourable friend the Communities

:24:12.:24:14.

Secretary launched the ?3 billion home builders fund to unlock over

:24:15.:24:21.

200,000 homes and up to ?2 billion to accelerate construction on public

:24:22.:24:24.

sector land. But we must further still. The challenge of delivering

:24:25.:24:30.

the housing we so desperately need in the places where it is currently

:24:31.:24:34.

least affordable is not, of course, a new one. At the effect of

:24:35.:24:39.

unaffordable housing on our nation's productivity makes it an urgent one.

:24:40.:24:43.

My right honourable friend the Communities Secretary will bring

:24:44.:24:47.

forward a housing wide paper in due course addressing these long-term

:24:48.:24:52.

challenges. But in the meantime we can take further steps. One of the

:24:53.:24:58.

biggest objections to housing development as honourable and right

:24:59.:25:00.

Honourable members will know from their own constituencies is often

:25:01.:25:04.

the impact on local infrastructure. So we will focus government

:25:05.:25:07.

infrastructure investment to unlock land for housing with a new ?2.3

:25:08.:25:12.

billion housing infrastructure fund to deliver infrastructure for up to

:25:13.:25:18.

100,000 new homes in areas of high demand. And to provide a affordable

:25:19.:25:25.

housing that supports a wide range of needs, we will invest a further

:25:26.:25:30.

?1.4 billion to deliver 40,000 additional affordable homes. And I

:25:31.:25:36.

will also relax restrictions on government grants to allow providers

:25:37.:25:41.

to deliver wider of housing types. I can also announce a large-scale

:25:42.:25:48.

regional roll-out of Right to buy for housing association tenants, and

:25:49.:25:54.

continued support for homeownership through the help to buy equity loans

:25:55.:26:00.

scheme and the help to buy ISA. Mr Speaker, this package means that

:26:01.:26:02.

over the course of this Parliament the government expects to more than

:26:03.:26:05.

double, in real terms, annual capital spending on housing. Coupled

:26:06.:26:10.

with our resolve to tackle the long-term challenges of land supply,

:26:11.:26:14.

this commitment to housing delivery represents a step change in our

:26:15.:26:19.

ambition to increase the supply of homes for sale and for rent, to

:26:20.:26:23.

deliver a housing market that works for everyone. Mr Speaker, reliable

:26:24.:26:31.

transport networks are essential to growth and productivity. So this

:26:32.:26:35.

Autumn Statement commits significant additional funding to help keep

:26:36.:26:40.

Britain moving now and to invest in the transport networks and vehicles

:26:41.:26:45.

of the future. I will commit an additional ?1.1 billion of

:26:46.:26:48.

investment in English local transport networks where small

:26:49.:26:52.

investments can often offer big wins. ?220 million additionally to

:26:53.:27:00.

address traffic pinch points on strategic roads. ?450 million to

:27:01.:27:04.

trial digital signalling on our railways to achieve a step change in

:27:05.:27:09.

reliability and to squeeze more capacity out of our existing rail

:27:10.:27:12.

infrastructure, something I know the Leader of the Opposition will

:27:13.:27:20.

welcome. And finally, Mr Speaker, ?390 million to build on our

:27:21.:27:23.

competitive advantage in low emission vehicles and the

:27:24.:27:27.

development of connected autonomous vehicles. Plus 100% first-year

:27:28.:27:32.

capital allowance for the installation of electric vehicle

:27:33.:27:36.

charging infrastructure. The Department for Transport will

:27:37.:27:39.

continue to work with transport for the North to develop detailed

:27:40.:27:42.

options for the Northern Powerhouse rail. My right honourable friend the

:27:43.:27:45.

Transport Secretary will set out more details of specific projects

:27:46.:27:49.

and priorities over the coming weeks. Mr Speaker, our future

:27:50.:27:54.

transport business and lifestyle needs will require world-class

:27:55.:27:58.

digital infrastructure to underpin them. So, my ambition, it says here

:27:59.:28:03.

because I wrote it here... So, my ambition, Mr Speaker, is for

:28:04.:28:29.

the UK to be a world leader in 5G, which means a step change in speed

:28:30.:28:34.

and reliability. We will invest over ?1 billion in our digital

:28:35.:28:36.

infrastructure to catalyse private investment in fibre networks and to

:28:37.:28:44.

support 5G trials. And from April we will introduce 100% business rates

:28:45.:28:50.

relief for a five-year period on new fibre infrastructure. Supporting

:28:51.:28:53.

further roll-out of fibre to homes and businesses. We have chosen, Mr

:28:54.:29:01.

Speaker, to borrow, to kick-start a transformation in infrastructure and

:29:02.:29:03.

innovation investment. But we must sustain this effort over the long

:29:04.:29:09.

term if we are to make a lasting difference to the UK productivity

:29:10.:29:13.

performance. So today I have written to the National infrastructure

:29:14.:29:16.

commission to ask them to make their recommendations on the future

:29:17.:29:19.

infrastructure needs of the country, using the assumption that the

:29:20.:29:23.

government will invest between 1% and 1.2% of GDP every year from 2020

:29:24.:29:31.

in economic infrastructure covered by the commission. To put that in

:29:32.:29:34.

context, will spend around 0.8% of GDP on the same definition this

:29:35.:29:41.

year. I am also backing the commission's interim recommendations

:29:42.:29:44.

on the Oxford Cambridge growth corridor published last week with

:29:45.:29:48.

?110 million of funding for east-west rail and a commitment to

:29:49.:29:52.

deliver the new Oxford Cambridge Expressway. But, Mr Speaker, this

:29:53.:29:59.

project can be more than just a transport link. It can become a

:30:00.:30:03.

transformational tech corridor, drawing on the world-class research

:30:04.:30:06.

strengths of our two best-known universities. So I welcome the

:30:07.:30:14.

commission's continuing work on delivering model options and we will

:30:15.:30:17.

carefully consider its final recommendations in due course.

:30:18.:30:22.

The major increase in infrastructure I have announced will represent a

:30:23.:30:26.

significant increase in funding through the Barnett Formula of over

:30:27.:30:32.

?250 million to the Northern Ireland executive, ?400 million to the Welsh

:30:33.:30:36.

Government and ?800 million to the Scottish Government.

:30:37.:30:45.

I'm sure he will in a moment. But, Mr Speaker, public investment

:30:46.:30:55.

is only part of the picture. About half of our economic infrastructure

:30:56.:30:59.

is financed by the private sector and we will continue to support that

:31:00.:31:04.

investment through the UK guarantee scheme, which I am today extending

:31:05.:31:09.

until at least 2026. The new capital investment I have announce Liberal

:31:10.:31:14.

Democrat provide the financial backbone for the you Government's

:31:15.:31:17.

industrial strategy which the Prime Minister spoke about on Monday, a

:31:18.:31:21.

firm foundation upon which my right honourable friend the Business

:31:22.:31:28.

Secretary will work, with industry, to build our ambition of an economy

:31:29.:31:33.

that workser to you will A I can announce further measures it back

:31:34.:31:37.

business. I'm doubling export capacity to make it easier for

:31:38.:31:43.

British businesses to export and funding an initiative to boost

:31:44.:31:45.

management skills across British businesses and taking a first step

:31:46.:31:49.

to tack he will why the long-standing problem of our

:31:50.:31:52.

fastest-growing start-up tech firms being snapped up by bigger

:31:53.:31:56.

companies, rather than growing to scale, bin jecting an initial ?400

:31:57.:32:02.

million into venture capital funds, through the British business bank,

:32:03.:32:05.

unlocking ?1 billion of new finance for growing firms.

:32:06.:32:10.

And I'm also launching today, a Treasury-led review of the barriers

:32:11.:32:15.

to accessing patient capital in the UK, so that we can take further

:32:16.:32:20.

action to address them. Mr Speaker, this Government

:32:21.:32:23.

recognises that for too long economic growth in our country has

:32:24.:32:27.

been too concentrated in London and the south-east. That is not just a

:32:28.:32:31.

social problem. It's an economic problem. London is one of the

:32:32.:32:37.

highest productivity cities in the world and we should celebrate that

:32:38.:32:41.

fact. But no other major developed economy has such a gap between the

:32:42.:32:46.

productivity of its capital city and its second and third cities. So, we

:32:47.:32:52.

must drive up the performance of our regional cities. Today, we publish

:32:53.:32:57.

our strategy for addressing productivity barriers in the

:32:58.:33:00.

northern powerhouse and give the go-ahead to a programme of major

:33:01.:33:06.

road schemes in the north. Our Midlands engine strategy will follow

:33:07.:33:10.

shortly but I am today providing funding that the evaluation study

:33:11.:33:14.

for the Midlands rail hub can go ahead. In addition, we are investing

:33:15.:33:18.

in local infrastructure in every region of England. I can announce

:33:19.:33:23.

the allocation of ?1.8 billion from the local growth fund, to the

:33:24.:33:29.

English regions. ?556 million to local enterprise partnerships in the

:33:30.:33:34.

north of England, ?542 million to the Midlands and east of England

:33:35.:33:40.

a?683 million to LEPs in the south-west, south-east and London.

:33:41.:33:43.

We will announce the detailed breakdown of allocations to

:33:44.:33:47.

individual LEPs shortly. Devolution, Mr Speaker, remains at the heart of

:33:48.:33:51.

this Government's approach to supporting local growth. And we

:33:52.:33:57.

recommit today to our city deals with Swansea, Edinburgh North Wales

:33:58.:34:02.

and Tie Cities and I can announce today we are beginning negotiations

:34:03.:34:07.

on a city deal for Stirling so every single city in Scotland will be on

:34:08.:34:13.

course to have a city deal. To support new mayoral combined

:34:14.:34:16.

authorities in England, I can announce that we will grant them new

:34:17.:34:20.

borrowing powers, to reflect their new responsibilities.

:34:21.:34:29.

And while we continue discussions in London and the West Midlands on

:34:30.:34:32.

possible consideration of further devolution powers. I can relegal

:34:33.:34:37.

that London will have its share of national affordable housing funding

:34:38.:34:40.

to deliver a commitment of over ?90,000 affordable homes and also

:34:41.:34:45.

that we are devolving to London, the adult education budget and giving

:34:46.:34:48.

London greater control over the delivery of employment support

:34:49.:34:52.

services for the hardest to help. Mr Speaker, I have deliberately

:34:53.:34:57.

avoided making this statement into a long list of individual projects

:34:58.:35:04.

being supported. But... But, I am going to make one

:35:05.:35:11.

exception. I will act today with just seven

:35:12.:35:18.

days to spare, to save one of the UK's most important historic houses,

:35:19.:35:20.

Wentworth wood house neither Rotherham.

:35:21.:35:27.

It is said to be the inspiration for Pemberley in Jane Austin's Pride

:35:28.:35:32.

Prejudice but in 1946, in an extraordinary act of cultural

:35:33.:35:37.

vandalism, the then Labour Government authorised extensive

:35:38.:35:40.

open-cast coal mining, virtually up to the front door of this precious

:35:41.:35:45.

property. Perhaps, Mr Speaker, that's Labour's idea of a northern

:35:46.:35:51.

powerhouse. Wentworth Woodhouse is now at critical risk of being lost

:35:52.:35:57.

to future... THE SPEAKER: It sounds very interesting indeed, the

:35:58.:36:03.

Chancellor. WentworthWoodhouse is at critical

:36:04.:36:07.

risk of being lost to future generations, a local effort has been

:36:08.:36:12.

successful in securing millions of pounds 234 funding from various

:36:13.:36:14.

foundations and charities, subject to the balance required to make the

:36:15.:36:19.

house safe being found by November 30th. So, we will, today, provide a

:36:20.:36:27.

?7.6 million grant towards urgent repairs to safeguard this key piece

:36:28.:36:32.

of northern heritage, all but destroyed by a Labour Government,

:36:33.:36:33.

saved by a Conservative one. I can, also, Mr Speaker, confirm

:36:34.:36:58.

distribution of a further ?102 million of Libor bank fines to Armed

:36:59.:37:03.

Forces and emergency services charities.

:37:04.:37:06.

Including my honourable friends will be pleased to hear, ?20 million to

:37:07.:37:12.

support the defence and national rehabilitation centre at Stamford

:37:13.:37:16.

Hall in Nottinghamshire. As well as ?3 million from the tampon tax fund

:37:17.:37:20.

for Comic Relief to distribute to a range of women's charities.

:37:21.:37:26.

Mr Speaker, we choose to invest in our economic infrastructure, because

:37:27.:37:29.

it can transform the growth potential of our economy, as well as

:37:30.:37:34.

improving the quality of people's lives. But that investment is only

:37:35.:37:39.

possible because we on this side of the House are prepared to take the

:37:40.:37:44.

tough decisions to maintain control of current spending. Every one of

:37:45.:37:49.

them opposed by the party opposite. When we took office in 2010, public

:37:50.:37:56.

spending was 45% of GDP. This year, it is set to be 40%.

:37:57.:38:00.

And during those six years, we've seen crime fall by more than

:38:01.:38:05.

one-quarter. The highest proportion ever of goods or outstanding schools

:38:06.:38:10.

-- good or outstanding schools. The number of doctors has increased by

:38:11.:38:13.

10,000 in NHS. Pensioner poverty at lowest level ever. The lowest ever

:38:14.:38:19.

number of children being raised in workless households and the

:38:20.:38:22.

highest-ever, number of young people going on to study fulltime at

:38:23.:38:26.

university. We have demonstrated, beyond doubt,

:38:27.:38:31.

that controlling public spending is compatible with world class public

:38:32.:38:33.

services, and social improvement. But as the OBR projections

:38:34.:38:44.

demonstrate, we have more work to do to eliminate the deficit. So

:38:45.:38:48.

departmental spending plans, set out in the Spending Review last autumn,

:38:49.:38:55.

will remain in place. And departmental expenditure in 21-22,

:38:56.:38:59.

will grow in line with inflation. The ?3.5 billion of savings to be

:39:00.:39:03.

delivered through the efficiency review, announced at the budget and

:39:04.:39:10.

led Miyamoto right honourable friend the Chief Secretary - and led by my

:39:11.:39:15.

right honourable friend, the chief he can s must go through I have...

:39:16.:39:24.

For increasing the number of prison officers by 2,500. Mr Speaker,

:39:25.:39:29.

having run two large spending departments, in previous roles, I

:39:30.:39:32.

came to this job with some very clear views about the relationship

:39:33.:39:36.

between the Treasury and spending departments.

:39:37.:39:41.

I want departments to be incentivised to drive efficiencies

:39:42.:39:47.

and I want the Treasury to be an enabler for good, effective spending

:39:48.:39:51.

across Government. O to kick start this new approach, I will allow up

:39:52.:39:56.

to ?1 billion of the savings found by the efficiency review, to be

:39:57.:40:03.

reinvested in 19-20 in priority areas and I have budgeted today

:40:04.:40:07.

accordingly. Mr Speaker, we manage public spending so that we can

:40:08.:40:12.

invest in the public's priorities. And this Government has underlined

:40:13.:40:16.

those priorities with a series of commitments and were texts for the

:40:17.:40:21.

duration of this Parliament. And I can confirm today that, despite the

:40:22.:40:25.

fiscal pressure, we will meet our commitments to protect the budgets

:40:26.:40:29.

of key public services and defence. We will keep our promise to the

:40:30.:40:34.

world's poorest through our overseas' aid budget and we will

:40:35.:40:37.

meet our pledge to our country's pensioners through the triple lock.

:40:38.:40:41.

But as we look ahead to the next Parliament, we will need to ensure

:40:42.:40:47.

that we tackle the challenges of rising longevity and fiscal

:40:48.:40:51.

sustainability and, so, the Government will review public

:40:52.:40:53.

spending priorities and other commitments for the next Parliament

:40:54.:40:58.

in light of the evolving fiscal position at the next Spending

:40:59.:41:00.

Review. Mr Speaker, I now turn to taxation.

:41:01.:41:07.

Since 2010 this Government has put a business-led recovery at the heart

:41:08.:41:12.

of our plan. We've cut corporation tax from 28% to 20%. Sending the

:41:13.:41:17.

message that Britain is open for business.

:41:18.:41:20.

The additional investment in productivity and infrastructure that

:41:21.:41:24.

I have announced today, underscores that message, and the raft of

:41:25.:41:33.

investments in the UK announced, since the referendum, by Soffbank,

:41:34.:41:37.

glancing yes, Nissan and others confirms T -- Glaxo. My priority as

:41:38.:41:43.

Chancellor is to ensure that Britain remains the number one destination

:41:44.:41:46.

for business, creating the investment, jobs ands were

:41:47.:41:51.

prosperity to protect our long-term future. I know how much business

:41:52.:41:55.

values certainty and stability. So, I confirm today that we will stick

:41:56.:41:59.

to the business tax road map that we set out in March. Corporation tax

:42:00.:42:07.

will fall to 17%, by far the lowest overall rate of corporate tax in the

:42:08.:42:10.

G20. We will deliver the commitments we have made to the oil and goes

:42:11.:42:14.

sector. The carbon price support will continue to be capped out to

:42:15.:42:20.

2020 and we'll implement the business rates reduction package

:42:21.:42:24.

worth ?6.7 billion. I can also confirm today that, having consulted

:42:25.:42:28.

further, my right honourable friend, the Communities' Secretary, will

:42:29.:42:32.

lower the transitional relief cap from 45% next year, to 43% and from

:42:33.:42:39.

50% to 32% the year after. That's complicated, but it is good news.

:42:40.:42:52.

Just in case anybody wasn't sure, Mr Speaker.

:42:53.:43:02.

InI will also increase, I will also increase the rural rate relief to

:43:03.:43:08.

100%, giving small businesses in rural areas, a tax break worth up to

:43:09.:43:15.

?2,900 per year. Mr Speaker, in return for these highly-competitive

:43:16.:43:19.

tax rates, the tax base must be sustain bible. -- sustainable.

:43:20.:43:29.

We'll align the employee, employer threshold at ?1. 57 per week. There

:43:30.:43:33.

will be no cost to employees and the maximum cost to business will be an

:43:34.:43:40.

annual ?7.18 per employee. Insurance premium tax in this

:43:41.:43:44.

country is lower than in many other European countries and half the rate

:43:45.:43:49.

of VAT. In order to raise revenue, which is required to fund the

:43:50.:43:53.

spending commitments I am making today, it will rise from 10%

:43:54.:44:00.

currently, to 12% from next June. At the same time, I can confirm that

:44:01.:44:04.

the Government's commitment to legislate next year to end the

:44:05.:44:09.

compensation culture surrounding whiplash claims, a major area of

:44:10.:44:14.

insurance fraud and that will save drivers an average of ?40 on their

:44:15.:44:19.

annual premiums. Mr Speaker, technological progress is changing

:44:20.:44:22.

the way people live and the way they work. The tax system needs to keep

:44:23.:44:28.

pace. For example, the OBR has highlighted today the growing cost

:44:29.:44:33.

to the exchequer of incorporation. So, the Government will consider how

:44:34.:44:37.

we can ensure that the taxation of different ways of working is fair

:44:38.:44:42.

between different individuals doing essentially the same work and

:44:43.:44:46.

sustain the tax base as the economy undergoes rapid change. We will

:44:47.:44:50.

consult in due course on any proposed changes.

:44:51.:44:53.

In the meantime, the Government will take action now, to reduce the

:44:54.:44:57.

difference between the treatment of cash earnings and benefits. The

:44:58.:45:03.

majority of employees pay tax on a cash salary, but some are able to

:45:04.:45:08.

sacrifice salary by agreement with their employer, and pay much lower

:45:09.:45:12.

tax on benefits in kind. This is unfair. And, so, from April 2017,

:45:13.:45:20.

employers and employees who use these schemes, will pay the same

:45:21.:45:22.

taxes as everyone else. Following consultation with

:45:23.:45:31.

stakeholders, ultralow emission cars, pension savings, childcare and

:45:32.:45:36.

the cycle to work scheme will be excluded from this change. And

:45:37.:45:44.

certain long-term arrangements will be protected until April 20 21. For

:45:45.:45:52.

pensions that have been drawn down, I will also reduce the ?4000 the

:45:53.:45:56.

money purchase annual allowance to prevent inappropriate double tax

:45:57.:46:02.

relief being gained. This government, Mr Speaker, has done

:46:03.:46:06.

more than any other to tackle tax evasion, avoidance, and aggressive

:46:07.:46:12.

tax planning. And the UK tax gap, it may surprise some honourable members

:46:13.:46:16.

opposite to hear, is now one of the lowest in the world. But we must

:46:17.:46:22.

constantly be alerted to new threats to our tax base and be willing to

:46:23.:46:27.

move swiftly to counter them. At the budget we committed to removing the

:46:28.:46:31.

tax benefits of disguised earnings for employees. And I'm now going to

:46:32.:46:36.

do the same for the self-employed and employers, raising a further

:46:37.:46:40.

?630 million over the forecast period. We will shut down

:46:41.:46:45.

inappropriate use of the VAT flat rate scheme that was put in place to

:46:46.:46:50.

help small businesses. We will abolish the tax advantages linked to

:46:51.:46:53.

employee shareholder status in response to growing status that it

:46:54.:46:57.

is being primarily used for tax planning purposes by high earning

:46:58.:47:01.

individuals. And we will introduce a new penalty for those who enabled

:47:02.:47:07.

the use of tax avoidance scheme that HMRC later challenges and defeats.

:47:08.:47:12.

These measures and others set out in the Autumn Statement document raise

:47:13.:47:17.

around ?2 billion over the forecast period. Mr Speaker, there is

:47:18.:47:22.

understandable public concern that the pitch is tilted in favour of

:47:23.:47:28.

large multinational groups. Which are able to use cross-border

:47:29.:47:30.

structures to manage their tax liabilities. Following detailed

:47:31.:47:36.

concentration Daly consultation I can confirm we will implement a

:47:37.:47:43.

programme and reform the way that releases awarded for historic

:47:44.:47:47.

losses. These measured scored at the budget 2016 will help to ensure

:47:48.:47:51.

large businesses will always pay tax in years where they make substantial

:47:52.:47:55.

profits. It will also mean that businesses cannot avoid tax by

:47:56.:48:00.

borrowing excessively in the UK to fund their overseas activities. They

:48:01.:48:05.

take effect in April and raise over ?5 billion from the largest

:48:06.:48:10.

businesses in the UK. Mr Speaker, I said that the tax system must be

:48:11.:48:14.

fair, and that means rewarding those who work hard by helping them to

:48:15.:48:19.

keep more of what they earn. And there is one tax reform this

:48:20.:48:23.

government has pursued since 2010 that has done more than any other to

:48:24.:48:28.

improve the lot of working people, raising the tax-free personal

:48:29.:48:33.

allowance. When we entered government in 2010 it was ?6,475.

:48:34.:48:42.

Now after six years it is ?11,000 and will rise to ?11,500 in April.

:48:43.:48:48.

As a result we have more than halved the tax bill of someone of a salary

:48:49.:48:55.

with ?15,000 to just ?800. That is a massive boost to the incomes of low

:48:56.:49:01.

and middle earners. Since 2010 we have cut income tax for 38 million

:49:02.:49:11.

people and taken 4 million people out of income tax altogether. I can

:49:12.:49:16.

confirm today that despite the talent in fiscal forecasts we will

:49:17.:49:20.

deliver on our commitment to raising the allowance to ?12,500 and the

:49:21.:49:25.

higher rate threshold to ?50,000 by the end of this Parliament. Once

:49:26.:49:33.

that ?12,500 has been reached, Mr Speaker, the personal allowance will

:49:34.:49:37.

rise automatically during the 20 20s in line with inflation rather than

:49:38.:49:39.

the national minimum wage as currently planned. It will be for

:49:40.:49:45.

the Chancellor to decide from year to year where the moor is

:49:46.:49:50.

affordable. As well as taking millions of ordinary people out of

:49:51.:49:53.

tax, we are the government that introduced the National Living Wage.

:49:54.:50:00.

Gave a pay rise, Mr Speaker, to over a million workers. They don't like

:50:01.:50:05.

it. A Tory government gave a pay rise to over a million of the lowest

:50:06.:50:12.

paid workers. We are the government that introduced 15 hours a week of

:50:13.:50:18.

free childcare for all three and four-year-olds and will double that

:50:19.:50:22.

for working families from September. The government whose education

:50:23.:50:24.

reforms have raised standards and expanded opportunity with 1.4

:50:25.:50:28.

million more children now in good or outstanding schools. The new capital

:50:29.:50:34.

funding is provided today for grammar schools will help to

:50:35.:50:40.

continue that trend. And we, Mr Speaker, are the government had

:50:41.:50:44.

pledged to invest in our NHS, and we are delivering on that promise. Back

:50:45.:50:48.

in the NHS five-year forward plan for the future with ?10 billion of

:50:49.:50:56.

additional funding by the end of 2020-2021. But we recognise that

:50:57.:51:00.

more needs to be done to help families make ends meet and to

:51:01.:51:06.

ensure that every household has opportunities to prosper. So today I

:51:07.:51:08.

can announce that the National Living Wage will increase from

:51:09.:51:14.

?7.20, ?27.50 in April next year. That's a pay rise worth over ?500 to

:51:15.:51:25.

a full time work. Mr Speaker, creating jobs, lowering taxes and

:51:26.:51:30.

raising wages addresses directly the concerns of ordinary families. And

:51:31.:51:34.

the revenue raising measures that I've announced today enable me to go

:51:35.:51:39.

further to help families on low wages. Universal credit is an

:51:40.:51:47.

important reform to our benefit system and is designed to make sure

:51:48.:51:55.

that work always pays. We want to reinforce that position. I have

:51:56.:51:59.

considered carefully the arguments made by my right honourable friend

:52:00.:52:05.

's and wake them colourfully against the fiscal constraints we are

:52:06.:52:10.

facing. -- weighed them carefully. I have concluded that from April we

:52:11.:52:15.

can reduce the universal credit data rate from 65%, to 63%. This is

:52:16.:52:21.

effectively a targeted tax cut worth ?700 million a year by 21-22 for

:52:22.:52:28.

those in work on low incomes. It will increase the incentive to work

:52:29.:52:35.

and encourage progression in work, and it will help 3 million

:52:36.:52:40.

households across our country. Mr Speaker, we believe that a market

:52:41.:52:45.

economy is the best way of delivering sustained prosperity for

:52:46.:52:49.

the British people. We will always support a market led approach. But

:52:50.:52:55.

we will not be afraid to intervene where there is evidence of market

:52:56.:52:59.

failure. We will look carefully over the coming months and the

:53:00.:53:05.

functioning of key markets including the retail energy market to make

:53:06.:53:07.

sure they are functioning fairly for all consumers. And in the private

:53:08.:53:12.

rental market, letting agents are currently able to charge unregulated

:53:13.:53:18.

fees to tenants. We've seen these fees spiral despite attempts to

:53:19.:53:26.

regulate them, often ?200. This is wrong. Landlords appoint letting

:53:27.:53:32.

agents and landlords should meet their fees. We will ban fees to

:53:33.:53:38.

tenants as soon as possible. And also, Mr Speaker, we will consult on

:53:39.:53:43.

how best to ban pensions cold calling and a wider range of

:53:44.:53:47.

pensions scams. We can also help today those who rely on income from

:53:48.:53:51.

modest savings to get by. Low interest rates have helped our

:53:52.:53:56.

economy recover but they've significantly reduced the interest

:53:57.:53:59.

people can learn on their cash savings. So we will launch a new

:54:00.:54:06.

market leading savings bond through endless and I. The detail will be

:54:07.:54:10.

announced at the budget, but we expect our new investment bond will

:54:11.:54:14.

have an interest rate of around 2.2% gross and a term of three years.

:54:15.:54:20.

Savers will be able to deposit up to ?3000, and we expect around 2

:54:21.:54:27.

million people to benefit. The announcements I have made today

:54:28.:54:32.

lower taxes on working people, boost wages, back Savers, and bear down on

:54:33.:54:39.

bills. In early 2017, we will begin the roll-out of tax free childcare

:54:40.:54:43.

across Britain providing up to ?2000 savings per child. Once rolled out,

:54:44.:54:49.

we pledge to keep it under review to ensure that it is delivering the

:54:50.:54:53.

support they need to working families. There is one further area

:54:54.:54:59.

of household expenditure where the government can help. The oil price

:55:00.:55:05.

has risen by over 60% since January and sterling has declined by 15%

:55:06.:55:11.

against the dollar. That means significant pressure on prices at

:55:12.:55:16.

the pumps here in Britain. So today we stand on the side of millions of

:55:17.:55:20.

hard-working people in our country by cancelling the fuel duty rise for

:55:21.:55:29.

the seventh successive year. In total this saves the average car

:55:30.:55:33.

driver ?130 per year and the average fan driver ?350 per year. This is a

:55:34.:55:43.

tax cut worth ?850 million next year, Mr Speaker, and means the

:55:44.:55:47.

current fuel duty frees is the longest for 40 years. Mr Speaker, I

:55:48.:55:56.

have one further announcement to make. This is my first Autumn

:55:57.:56:00.

Statement as Chancellor. After careful consideration and detailed

:56:01.:56:05.

discussion with the Prime Minister, I have decided that it will also be

:56:06.:56:12.

my last. Mr Speaker, I am abolishing the Autumn Statement. No other major

:56:13.:56:23.

economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year and neither

:56:24.:56:29.

should we. So the spring budget in a few months will be the final spring

:56:30.:56:34.

budget. Starting in autumn 2017 Britain will have an autumn budget

:56:35.:56:41.

announcing tax changes well in advance of the start of the tax

:56:42.:56:45.

year. From 2018 there will be a spring statement responding to the

:56:46.:56:55.

forecast... LAUGHTER Perhaps they should have read their

:56:56.:57:15.

briefing. What a great state of emotion, some people are very easily

:57:16.:57:19.

humoured, but we must hear the Chancellor. Perhaps they should have

:57:20.:57:23.

read their briefing because they might remember that Parliament has

:57:24.:57:27.

mandated the Office for Budget Responsibility to produce a report

:57:28.:57:32.

to Parliament twice a year and has mandated the government to reply to

:57:33.:57:37.

it. From 2018 there will be a spring statement responding to the forecast

:57:38.:57:40.

from the OBR but no major fiscal event. If unexpected changes in the

:57:41.:57:46.

economy require it I will of course reserve the right to announce

:57:47.:57:51.

actions at the spring statement, but I will not make significant changes

:57:52.:57:55.

twice a year just for the sake of it. This change will allow for

:57:56.:58:02.

greater parliamentary scrutiny of budget measures ahead of their

:58:03.:58:07.

implementation. Mr Speaker, this is a long overdue reform to our tax

:58:08.:58:13.

policy making process and brings the UK into line with best practice

:58:14.:58:19.

recommended by the IMF, the ISS, the Institute for government and many

:58:20.:58:26.

others. Mr Speaker, the OBR report today confirms the underlying

:58:27.:58:29.

strength and resilience of the British economy. This Autumn

:58:30.:58:34.

Statement responds to the challenge of building on that strength while

:58:35.:58:39.

also heeding the warnings in the OBR's figures as we begin writing

:58:40.:58:44.

this new chapter in our country's history. It restates our commitment

:58:45.:58:50.

to living within our means and sets out our choice to invest in our

:58:51.:58:57.

future. It sends a clear message to the world that Britain is open for

:58:58.:59:02.

business and it provides help to those who need it now. So, Mr

:59:03.:59:07.

Speaker, we have made our choices, we have set our course, we are great

:59:08.:59:12.

nation. Bold in our vision, confident in our strengths, and

:59:13.:59:19.

determined in our ambition to build a country that works for everyone.

:59:20.:59:27.

STUDIO: So that was the Chancellor. This is now the Shadow Chancellor's

:59:28.:59:32.

response. This morning we have heard the

:59:33.:59:42.

verdict from the trial following the tragic murder of Jo Cox. Jo Cox's

:59:43.:59:48.

murder robs this house of a fierce advocate for social justice and a

:59:49.:59:54.

passionate campaigner. Her killing was an attack on democracy itself.

:59:55.:59:59.

Our thoughts are with her family this morning. Mr Speaker, today's

:00:00.:00:07.

statement places on record the abject failure of the last six

:00:08.:00:14.

wasted years and offers no hope for the future. The figures speak for

:00:15.:00:21.

themselves. Growth, down. Wage growth, down. Business investment,

:00:22.:00:25.

down. And their own deficit target failed.

:00:26.:00:38.

The debt target failed. The welfare cap failed. We have heard today, Mr

:00:39.:00:49.

Speaker... If members on either side want to shout out, don't bother to

:00:50.:00:52.

stand because he won't be called. I say that two members on both sides.

:00:53.:00:59.

Stop it. It is juvenile, low-grade, and hugely deprecated by the public.

:01:00.:01:04.

Whose support we should be seeking and whom we should try to impress,

:01:05.:01:12.

not to repower. Thank you Mr Speaker. There will be more taxes,

:01:13.:01:17.

more debt, and more borrowing. The verdict could not be clearer. The

:01:18.:01:21.

so-called long-term economic plan has failed. As the Treasury is only

:01:22.:01:28.

leaked paper failed, the government knew it had failed before the

:01:29.:01:33.

referendum result was announced. And we now face Brexit. The greatest

:01:34.:01:36.

economic challenge of a generation and we face it unprepared and

:01:37.:01:41.

ill-equipped. The new Chancellor acknowledged the fact himself in

:01:42.:01:48.

October when he promised a reset of economic policy. So today we

:01:49.:01:54.

expected a change of direction after those six wasted years. Instead, we

:01:55.:01:58.

have seen further cuts to earnings for those in work to Universal

:01:59.:02:03.

Credit. And a living wage increase that is lower than expected under

:02:04.:02:08.

the previous Chancellor. This is a new Conservative leadership with no

:02:09.:02:12.

answers to the challenges facing our country following Brexit and no

:02:13.:02:14.

vision to secure our future prosperity. Just turning to Brexit,

:02:15.:02:20.

Labour respect the decision of the British people to leave the European

:02:21.:02:24.

Union. But the Celtic Tory handling of Brexit threatens the future

:02:25.:02:31.

prosperity of this country. The Chancellor must do the right thing

:02:32.:02:34.

for British workers and businesses and incest on full tariff free

:02:35.:02:41.

access to the single market. He and the Treasury know that's what will

:02:42.:02:44.

give the best deal for jobs and prosperity here. I will just say it

:02:45.:02:50.

may not be in the Chancellor's nature but I urge him to stand up to

:02:51.:02:55.

the Prime Minister and the extreme Brexit fanatics in her Cabinet. If

:02:56.:02:59.

he stands up for British businesses and jobs, fighting for single market

:03:00.:03:04.

access, he will have our full support. After six wasted years,

:03:05.:03:17.

wages are still lower than 2008. Self-employed people are on average

:03:18.:03:21.

paid less than a generation ago. 6 million people are earning less than

:03:22.:03:24.

the living wage. Too many people are having to worry about buying school

:03:25.:03:29.

uniforms, affording a family holiday or paying the rent and mortgage. We

:03:30.:03:35.

have had one month of briefing from the party opposite on those people

:03:36.:03:41.

who are called Just About Managing, the Jams. To the party opposite,

:03:42.:03:44.

these people are just a demographic. To us, they are our friends,

:03:45.:03:52.

neighbours and the people we represent. Let me tell you what they

:03:53.:04:01.

are, why they are just managing, it is the results of Tories imposing

:04:02.:04:08.

austerity on the economy that couldn't bear the strain. We have

:04:09.:04:12.

seen productivity stagnate. But there's nothing in this Autumn

:04:13.:04:15.

Statement on the scale needed to overturn those six wasted years. If

:04:16.:04:20.

the Chancellor really wants to make a fair tax system as well, we can

:04:21.:04:23.

start by bringing back the 50p rate for the very richest in our country.

:04:24.:04:31.

And it's familiar hollow rhetoric from the Tories on tax avoidance

:04:32.:04:36.

when they have cut the resources at HMRC, the very people who collect

:04:37.:04:42.

the taxes themselves. Resources available to HMRC today are 40% less

:04:43.:04:50.

than they were in 2000. The Chancellor has frozen in work

:04:51.:04:53.

benefits at a time when food prices are rising and we don't expect wages

:04:54.:05:00.

to keep up. We need an economy that is fundamentally more prosperous and

:05:01.:05:04.

where that prosperity is, yes, shared by all. The increase in the

:05:05.:05:10.

national living wage announced today is actually lower than expected and

:05:11.:05:13.

leave the poorest paid workers still earning less than they need to live

:05:14.:05:18.

on. So I ask the Chancellor to adopt a real living wage level as Labour

:05:19.:05:23.

has pledged to do and abandon his predecessors empty rhetoric.

:05:24.:05:27.

Regrettably, the Chancellor is still going ahead with some of the cuts to

:05:28.:05:33.

Universal Credit. Thanks to the pressure, I'd paid tribute to those

:05:34.:05:37.

MPs on all sides of the house who have campaigned on this issue,

:05:38.:05:40.

thanks to that pressure, is offering to soften the blow. We don't want to

:05:41.:05:44.

blow softened. We wanted lifted altogether. Today's changes will

:05:45.:05:51.

lead a single parent on average at least ?2300 worse off. These are the

:05:52.:05:57.

very people who are working hard to deliver for their families and the

:05:58.:06:05.

government is betraying them. As for the people on disability is put

:06:06.:06:09.

through the ordeal of the discredited work capability

:06:10.:06:11.

assessment, who are trying to get themselves ready to return to work,

:06:12.:06:17.

just about managing, they still remain in the Chancellor's firing

:06:18.:06:23.

line. Cutting ?30 a week from the support that these disabled people

:06:24.:06:27.

receive. It is scandalous. In our society. Those who are just about

:06:28.:06:36.

managing, also rely upon our public services. They send their children

:06:37.:06:41.

to local schools, they depend on their local hospital, they rely on

:06:42.:06:47.

their council services like cleaning the streets, tending to their parks

:06:48.:06:50.

and playgrounds, and opening their libraries. But the reality, is,

:06:51.:06:56.

after six wasted years, our public services are just not managing.

:06:57.:07:01.

Today the childcare that parents rely on remains underfunded as the

:07:02.:07:06.

Public Accounts Committee has reported and it will remain

:07:07.:07:08.

underfunded even after the announcements today. I want to pay

:07:09.:07:14.

tribute as well to the honourable members for Swansea East and

:07:15.:07:18.

Thamesmead for their important work in bringing the issue of child

:07:19.:07:22.

burial fees to public attention. And I ask the government to do the right

:07:23.:07:29.

thing in child burial fees and reconsider making funding available

:07:30.:07:31.

for families in these desperate circumstances. Councillors from all

:07:32.:07:40.

political parties are reporting that they are at a tipping point in the

:07:41.:07:47.

provision of social care. The previous Chancellor cut nearly ?5

:07:48.:07:50.

billion from social care meaning now that over 1 million people who need

:07:51.:07:56.

care are not getting it. They are not even just about managing, and

:07:57.:08:02.

they have got little help today. We call for additional support for

:08:03.:08:07.

social care. But the funding being provided today is only a stopgap

:08:08.:08:13.

measure. Our social care system will not be secured without long-term

:08:14.:08:17.

funding. Tonight, many elderly people will remain trapped in their

:08:18.:08:22.

homes isolated and lonely, lacking the care they need, because of this

:08:23.:08:27.

continuing cut to social care. You can't cut social care without also

:08:28.:08:34.

heading the NHS. The suppose it 10 billion funding allocated is a

:08:35.:08:39.

restatement of an earlier commitment but the health select committee

:08:40.:08:46.

described as trembling pound as, " misleading and incorrect -- ?10

:08:47.:08:51.

billion. The real amount is less than half that amount. The result,

:08:52.:08:58.

we now have 3.9 million people on NHS waiting lists. More than ever.

:08:59.:09:05.

Many of those at 3.9 million are waiting in pain and they have got no

:09:06.:09:11.

relief today. No relief today. Across the country, hospitals are

:09:12.:09:16.

facing losing their accident and emergency units, losing their

:09:17.:09:19.

maternity units, and losing their specialist units. This Tory

:09:20.:09:24.

government is failing patients and also failing the dedicated NHS staff

:09:25.:09:29.

that service them so well. This is the first time health care spending

:09:30.:09:35.

per head has declined since the NHS was created. I fear there will be a

:09:36.:09:41.

crisis in funding in care over this Christmas. The NHS cares for us. We

:09:42.:09:51.

should care for the NHS. On education, members of this

:09:52.:09:54.

government have also overseen the biggest real terms cuts in education

:09:55.:10:01.

for four decades. ?1 in every seven has been cut from college budgets

:10:02.:10:07.

and Conservative policy has saddled a generation of students with a

:10:08.:10:11.

lifetime of debt. How can a government seriously talk about

:10:12.:10:15.

supporting a 21st-century economy when they are planning to put tens

:10:16.:10:22.

of millions into the failed 20th-century policy of grammar

:10:23.:10:25.

schools? Segregating our children at an early age. On housing, the

:10:26.:10:33.

Chancellor announced today he is scrapping proposals on letting

:10:34.:10:36.

agents fees. This U-turn is a victory for Labour's campaign

:10:37.:10:39.

against both the tenant tax and letting fees. The Chancellor has

:10:40.:10:46.

spoken before the dream of home ownership for the young. Nothing

:10:47.:10:51.

announced today is the scale needed to suggest it will remain anything

:10:52.:10:57.

other than a dream. The hard facts are these. The government, of which

:10:58.:11:02.

he is a member, built fewer homes that anyone since the 1920s. They

:11:03.:11:08.

are now a third of the fuel -- there are a third of a million homeowners

:11:09.:11:12.

under 35. The Chancellor could have delivered today the scale of

:11:13.:11:15.

investment required to build the homes we need and create a new

:11:16.:11:20.

generation of home ownership. He significantly failed. I am grateful,

:11:21.:11:26.

as a result of the campaign from the honourable member, that the

:11:27.:11:33.

Wentworth building will be saved. I am grateful. The accusation was that

:11:34.:11:39.

a Labour government opened an opencast mine near to it and

:11:40.:11:43.

threatened it. That was a Labour government in 1947, I believe. I

:11:44.:11:48.

just wish... LAUGHTER

:11:49.:11:55.

I just wish... Some of the policies pursued by Tory governments since

:11:56.:12:00.

the 1950s could be reversed so easily. The biggest failure of

:12:01.:12:03.

investments is this. The Chancellor has failed to address properly this

:12:04.:12:10.

government's most consistent shortcoming. His predecessor cut

:12:11.:12:13.

public investment to the lowest it has been since the 1990s. Instead of

:12:14.:12:18.

delivering the ambitious investment this economy needs, across the whole

:12:19.:12:22.

country, the Chancellor has failed to recognise the scale of the

:12:23.:12:26.

challenge today. He also risks repeating the mistakes from last

:12:27.:12:31.

year with a national flood resilience plan failing to provide

:12:32.:12:36.

the protection our communities need. Just one in five of the project in

:12:37.:12:40.

the investment pipeline are under construction. And there are 82

:12:41.:12:47.

billion shovel ready projects still delayed. The infrastructure gap

:12:48.:12:51.

between London and the rest remains unbridgeable top London was

:12:52.:12:54.

scheduled to receive 12 times the public investment per head of the

:12:55.:12:59.

North East of England. But the 1.1 billion of investment in transport

:13:00.:13:05.

is a re-announcement, the Oxford to Cambridge rail link is delayed

:13:06.:13:08.

significantly against Network Rail 's original planned completion date

:13:09.:13:15.

of March 2000 and 19. There are just no new ideas here -- 2019. Just what

:13:16.:13:21.

they've previously failed to deliver on. This is press release policy and

:13:22.:13:27.

not provision. All we need now is the return of the high viz jacket.

:13:28.:13:32.

The fourth Industrial Revolution will not be delivered on delays, on

:13:33.:13:44.

old news and re-announcements. At last, the government has realised

:13:45.:13:46.

its mistake and now talk about an industrial strategy, words that

:13:47.:13:51.

ministers refused to even referred to in the past. But it isn't enough

:13:52.:13:57.

to just change a few ministerial titles. The government and the

:13:58.:14:00.

Chancellor need to deliver. But we have yet to see the proposed green

:14:01.:14:03.

paper on industrial strategy promised over the summer. The same

:14:04.:14:09.

government that no talks also of high-tech investment oversaw a ?1

:14:10.:14:15.

billion cut in real terms to funding in the last parliament for them the

:14:16.:14:20.

OECD recommends developed countries should be spending 3% of GDP on

:14:21.:14:25.

science. And what we have heard today, the new spending will lift

:14:26.:14:31.

our expenditure from 1.7% of GDP to a mere 1.8%. And it's the same

:14:32.:14:36.

familiar story for business. The Chancellor is continuing the race to

:14:37.:14:40.

the bottom on corporation tax while continuing to cut public services,

:14:41.:14:46.

the Chancellor is cutting taxes too busy business. -- big business. We

:14:47.:14:52.

know it's not the headline tax rate which encourage long-term investment

:14:53.:14:55.

from businesses. Business investment has been revised down every year

:14:56.:15:00.

under this government. What encourages business investment is

:15:01.:15:02.

knowing they have accessed as rule workers, world-class infrastructure

:15:03.:15:09.

and a major market. Today's grim economic forecast show the challenge

:15:10.:15:13.

ahead. The Chancellor admitted over the summer it was time for a change

:15:14.:15:18.

of course. He has now had to abandon his government's fiscal charter with

:15:19.:15:19.

its failed hard surplus Labour warned this would lack

:15:20.:15:33.

flexibility to adapt or economic circumstances and the capacity to

:15:34.:15:38.

allow investment. The U-turn today shows how right we have been over

:15:39.:15:45.

the last year. In conclusion, only weeks ago, the Prime Minister

:15:46.:15:50.

offered a hope of change. The Chancellor offered to reset economic

:15:51.:15:55.

policy. Today we have seen the very people the Prime Minister promised

:15:56.:16:00.

to champion betrayed. The Chancellor has failed to break with the

:16:01.:16:05.

economic strategy of posterity. The country remains unprepared and

:16:06.:16:08.

ill-equipped to meet the challenges are Brexit and ensure Britain's

:16:09.:16:12.

future as a world leading economy. After all the sacrifices people have

:16:13.:16:21.

made over the last six years, I feel today's statement has laid the

:16:22.:16:25.

foundations for more wasted years. Only a Labour government will

:16:26.:16:28.

deliver on the ambition and vision to rebuild and transform an economy

:16:29.:16:39.

so that no one and no community is left behind. Mr Speaker, can I first

:16:40.:16:46.

associate myself... We leave the House of

:16:47.:16:56.

Commons but debate on the Autumn Statement continues in the chamber.

:16:57.:17:05.

Let's take you through the headlines. We start with the growth

:17:06.:17:09.

forecast. A lot follows from this. They are now forecasting growth of

:17:10.:17:15.

2.1% a sheer, 1.4 next, 1.7, and then it goes back to 2.1, 2.1 and

:17:16.:17:23.

then 2021, they do not really know but they say 2%. A dip in the next

:17:24.:17:29.

two years and then back to trend in the outer years. Because of the dip

:17:30.:17:32.

there are implications for borrowing. In every year, the

:17:33.:17:37.

Chancellor has forecast more borrowing. 68 billion in 2016/17 and

:17:38.:17:48.

then 59 and then 46.5 in 21 /20 two. That is well over ?100 billion he

:17:49.:17:52.

plans to borrow between now and the start of the next decade. It then

:17:53.:17:59.

follows because of that that government debt rises. You borrow

:18:00.:18:03.

more, it all adds to the national debt. The national debt will now

:18:04.:18:12.

peek at 90% of GDP, just over, by 2017/ 18. That means that 12 years

:18:13.:18:18.

after the great crash, debt is still rising and only begins to fall after

:18:19.:18:24.

that. 12 years of rising debt as a percentage of GDP. The new target

:18:25.:18:28.

for debt now, though it is an old one as well, is to see it falling as

:18:29.:18:35.

a share of GDP by the end of this Parliament. So it peaks up to 90%.

:18:36.:18:41.

That is a lot of GDP and then begins to start to fall in the Algiers.

:18:42.:18:45.

Cyclic Lee adjusted borrowing should be below 2% there's the Chancellor

:18:46.:18:56.

by 2020. -- out years. He will start to get control of the deficit and

:18:57.:19:01.

get it down. The National Living Wage will rise to ?7 50 an hour next

:19:02.:19:06.

April. Fuel duty rise is cancelled. That seems to happen every year now.

:19:07.:19:13.

Universal Credit taper, a marginal rate of tax that people on welfare

:19:14.:19:17.

and working pay when they lose benefits and get more pay, that is

:19:18.:19:23.

seduced by a very small amount from 65% to 63. -- that is reduced. What

:19:24.:19:30.

was leaked in the papers this morning, the upfront letting agency

:19:31.:19:34.

fees are banned in England. They have already been banned in

:19:35.:19:38.

Scotland. A number of tax announcements. Corporation tax will

:19:39.:19:43.

fall as the Government has told us before to 17%. It is currently I

:19:44.:19:49.

think 20, maybe 19 has been reduced to, but it is going down to 17. He

:19:50.:19:55.

hopes to raise another 2 billion by targeting more tax avoidance

:19:56.:19:58.

schemes. That tends to be mentioned in every budget or Autumn Statement.

:19:59.:20:10.

Because he is looking at ways to raise more money and not see that

:20:11.:20:13.

deficit rise by even more, having to borrow more, he is increasing the

:20:14.:20:16.

insurance premium tax to increase from 10% to 12%. You will pay that

:20:17.:20:19.

from June of next year. On housing, we were told there would be a number

:20:20.:20:24.

of announcements on housing. He is putting in 1.4 billion to help build

:20:25.:20:30.

40,000 new affordable homes. That is spread over time. This year it was a

:20:31.:20:34.

very small number of affordable homes being built. He has also

:20:35.:20:40.

announced a 2.3 billion housing infrastructure fund to help build

:20:41.:20:44.

thousands of new homes. That is spread over a number of years. Right

:20:45.:20:50.

to buy was a policy of the previous Chancellor and of the Prime Minister

:20:51.:20:53.

but they are not going ahead across the country. They are going to look

:20:54.:20:59.

at a large scale regional pilot to allow housing association tenants to

:21:00.:21:05.

buy their homes. On transport, he is a former Transport Secretary, so we

:21:06.:21:10.

expected a fair bit on transport. He announced a 1.3 billion package to

:21:11.:21:14.

improve English local transport. Sounds a lot but it is only .08% of

:21:15.:21:22.

GDP. There will be 450 million for a trial of digital signalling on

:21:23.:21:28.

railways, 394 low emission vehicles. The kind of thing that chancellors

:21:29.:21:33.

always liked to pad out their budgets on their Autumn Statement

:21:34.:21:39.

is. There are consequences of these announcements for the rest of the

:21:40.:21:42.

UK. Under the devolution settlement is clad in Northern Ireland would

:21:43.:21:47.

get an extra 250 million a year, Wales 400 and Scotland 800 million a

:21:48.:21:52.

year. There is to be 1.8 billion from local growth elements for

:21:53.:21:57.

infrastructure in the English regions. New borrowing powers for

:21:58.:22:04.

mayoral combined authorities. The Government is trying to encourage

:22:05.:22:08.

big cities to have elected mayors. Saying if you do that and combined

:22:09.:22:13.

we will let you borrow more. For business, the Chancellor announced

:22:14.:22:18.

there was a 6.7 billion package to reduce business rates. This ?23

:22:19.:22:25.

billion for the new productivity investment fund over five years. How

:22:26.:22:29.

much of that is new money we will discuss. It works out at about 4.5

:22:30.:22:36.

billion a year. Looks a lot bigger when you save 23 billion. There will

:22:37.:22:41.

be an extra 400 million to unlock a billion funding for start up tech

:22:42.:22:45.

schemes. The kind of announcement we are used to seeing in these sort of

:22:46.:22:50.

events. Other measures, we have a lot of measures. The Chancellor said

:22:51.:22:54.

he was not going to make it a big deal but actually was. Billing

:22:55.:23:02.

funding for digital infrastructure, including 5G mobile. -- billion

:23:03.:23:10.

funding. Infrastructure will rise from 2020. That will leave the

:23:11.:23:17.

United Kingdom still quite low. What we have already heard from the Prime

:23:18.:23:21.

Minister, an extra 2 billion a year for research and develop and by

:23:22.:23:26.

2020. So, it slowly builds up in the rest of this decade. Another 2

:23:27.:23:33.

billion for our and D. Kind of infrastructure, productivity, trying

:23:34.:23:36.

to invest in the future. The Chancellor also announced that was

:23:37.:23:42.

the last Autumn Statement. Quite an historic event, you might think.

:23:43.:23:46.

Instead he said there would now be a spring statement, starting next

:23:47.:23:50.

year. So, what she will ask of the budget? That is moving to the

:23:51.:23:56.

autumn. So, in a way, nothing much really changes. We still have a

:23:57.:24:00.

statement and a budget, one each, every year. We are joined by the man

:24:01.:24:09.

who gets to mark the Chancellor's homework. We will come to him in a

:24:10.:24:15.

minute. Laura, give me your overview of what we have heard? It was a

:24:16.:24:20.

low-key presentation from a low-key Chancellor with quite a dramatic

:24:21.:24:23.

picture behind it. The dramatic picture that, instead of being in

:24:24.:24:27.

the black as was expected by the end of this Parliament, as the country

:24:28.:24:31.

will be much more in the red. The surplus has gone and will be well

:24:32.:24:35.

over more than 20 billion. The deficit still hanging around like a

:24:36.:24:39.

bad spell as we head into the next general election, if these forecasts

:24:40.:24:45.

are right. Borrowing is back. This looks very different from the

:24:46.:24:50.

planned George Osborne put forward just a few short months ago. The

:24:51.:24:55.

straitjacket on public spending is a bit looser. Those new rules, not

:24:56.:24:59.

that different to those of Ed Miliband. Philip Hammond made a

:25:00.:25:07.

concerted effort to try to show the long-term plan, long-term

:25:08.:25:10.

infrastructure by his long-term ambitions for the economy. There was

:25:11.:25:13.

a Conservative effort to make this add up to a political narrative. I

:25:14.:25:17.

am not sure how convincing this is as a set of measures that will

:25:18.:25:23.

really help people out there who, as Theresa May has identified, are just

:25:24.:25:27.

managing to get by. Nothing very dramatic on the giveaway site. A lot

:25:28.:25:32.

of drama on how the picture has changed. The thing that struck me,

:25:33.:25:40.

he is now saying grows... OBR is saying economic growth will be 2.1%

:25:41.:25:44.

this year, then it full is to one point for next year and 1.7 is

:25:45.:25:49.

forecast the year after. Then it rises back up again to over 2%. His

:25:50.:25:55.

financial position deteriorates because of the two coming years. If

:25:56.:26:00.

the OBR is wrong and if it turns out that growth stays at around 2% to

:26:01.:26:04.

almost every one of these figures he has given us today will turn out not

:26:05.:26:11.

to be true. You are right. These are only forecasts. We are in an

:26:12.:26:18.

incredibly uncertain period of time. It is not about giveaways or micro

:26:19.:26:22.

economic issues. It was huge in macro terms. Those new debt to GDP

:26:23.:26:29.

ratios are very high, going over 90% in three years' time. It shows the

:26:30.:26:33.

Government will have to borrow a lot more. Its total borrowing amount by

:26:34.:26:37.

the end of the forecast period will be just under ?2 trillion. Just

:26:38.:26:48.

under. If our economy grows rapidly, and lots of economists say it is

:26:49.:26:52.

perfectly sustainable, not maybe at 90% but as long as you have a

:26:53.:26:57.

falling proportion of debt in proportion to GDP, that is

:26:58.:27:01.

sustainable. What the Government has done as well, those new targets for

:27:02.:27:05.

what Philip Hammond said were balancing the books, are flexible to

:27:06.:27:12.

put it benignly. They could be possibly meaningless, to put it more

:27:13.:27:16.

aggressively. They said they wanted to bring the budget back to balance

:27:17.:27:25.

as early as possible in the next Parliament. Don't we all. One of

:27:26.:27:30.

those rubber conditional words, possible, of course. One interesting

:27:31.:27:36.

bit within the Office for Budget Responsibility's economic outlook is

:27:37.:27:39.

they have done a whole chapter on what they call the no referendum

:27:40.:27:45.

counter factual. What with their forecast have looked like if we had

:27:46.:27:50.

not voted to leave the European Union? What does it say? It does say

:27:51.:27:56.

that directly related to the referendum results, it suggests that

:27:57.:28:04.

borrowing of ?3.5 billion this year, nearly ?10 billion next year, ?15.4

:28:05.:28:11.

billion in 2018/ 19th is attributable to the referendum

:28:12.:28:14.

result because it suggests, it says that the referendum means there will

:28:15.:28:19.

be a negative impact on the economy. The OBR, if it were concerned about

:28:20.:28:24.

plunging into the debate, what effect would Brexit have questioned

:28:25.:28:30.

it has not shown it in its work. It has put numbers on borrowing, stuck

:28:31.:28:34.

them on the table and said everyone can have an argument about that.

:28:35.:28:38.

There will be a huge argument and discussion about how much of the

:28:39.:28:41.

picture changing is down to the vote to leave the European Union.

:28:42.:28:46.

Fascinating leak at the start of his statement Philip Hammond placed in

:28:47.:28:52.

that context. He said his statement was a consequence for the decision

:28:53.:28:57.

we have made. He himself was quite clear, the decisions he has made are

:28:58.:29:01.

down to the decision we have all made. About oil prices and other

:29:02.:29:11.

global issues, they are in desperate not central. On the previous

:29:12.:29:15.

forecast we were meant to borrow just over 55 billion this financial

:29:16.:29:20.

year. Next year we were meant to borrow just under 39 billion and it

:29:21.:29:26.

will now be 59 billion. And so it goes on. Is this deterioration in

:29:27.:29:30.

our this school position worse than you thought it would be? -- fiscal

:29:31.:29:40.

position. I think the OBR has been relatively optimistic compared with

:29:41.:29:45.

the Bank of England. Figures up to 2020 are more optimistic on the

:29:46.:29:50.

growth side and the public finances side. In terms of public finances

:29:51.:29:53.

overall, numbers are very close to the numbers we put out a couple of

:29:54.:29:57.

weeks ago in terms of our expectations. If they are more

:29:58.:30:04.

optimistic on the growth side, and they may not be optimistic enough,

:30:05.:30:07.

why does the borrowing deteriorate by so much? It is only 20 billion

:30:08.:30:13.

behind where it was for the next couple of years.

:30:14.:30:18.

borrowing is very sensitive to growth of the those aren't terribly

:30:19.:30:25.

surprising relationships. There is clearly, as the OBR state, other

:30:26.:30:28.

things going on, which has created problems and in particular this

:30:29.:30:34.

year, the Chancellor has got even less in income tax revenues than he

:30:35.:30:38.

expected to do, even given what happened to growth and wages and so

:30:39.:30:42.

on. One of the things the OBR have drawn attention to Anna Chancellor

:30:43.:30:46.

mentioned, he would consult on, this whole issue of what you might call

:30:47.:30:51.

people who are no longer getting money as earnings, but instead are

:30:52.:30:58.

self-employed or incorporating and if you are self-employed and

:30:59.:31:02.

particularly if you call yourself a small company, you pay quite a bit

:31:03.:31:05.

less tax than if you are an employee for the same amount of income,

:31:06.:31:09.

something the OBR worried about in March. They seem to be worrying

:31:10.:31:15.

about a lot more now. In a nerdy way, the Chancellor said he was

:31:16.:31:19.

going to consult on changing the tax system or the way we define what is

:31:20.:31:24.

self employed and that could have a big effect. The inflation figures

:31:25.:31:30.

were interesting from the OBR because compared to the Bank of

:31:31.:31:33.

England, they are not that bad. Inflation peaking at 2.5% in 2018.

:31:34.:31:40.

If wage growth was to stay the way it is now, 2.3%, would be just a

:31:41.:31:47.

little bit above, and then it falls down to 2%. If that is true, you

:31:48.:31:52.

wouldn't get the same squeeze on real living standards that many had

:31:53.:31:55.

feared because of the fall of the pound, and therefore maybe not the

:31:56.:31:58.

same impact on growth. It wouldn't be so bad. Clearly the higher the

:31:59.:32:04.

inflation is, the worse it is for living standards and the OBR along

:32:05.:32:09.

with the bank is expecting a direct pass through into higher prices, a

:32:10.:32:13.

bit less, but not that much less than the bank is expecting. If it

:32:14.:32:21.

does turn out that we get prices at 2.5% and wages, 2.3%, in historical

:32:22.:32:28.

terms, it's terrible. We usually see prices rising 2%, not 0.2%.

:32:29.:32:33.

Irrespective of what happened on June 23, we've already had eight

:32:34.:32:37.

years essentially with no growth in real earnings and... This could be a

:32:38.:32:44.

return to it. It looks like we have got several more years of that and

:32:45.:32:48.

we may well end up by the end of this decade with earnings no higher

:32:49.:32:51.

than they were at the beginning of the decade. We have never seen that

:32:52.:32:57.

before, certainly not since the war. Is it clear, so far, for the Just

:32:58.:33:05.

About Managing, this new popular phrase, is it clear that the Just

:33:06.:33:10.

About Managing are going to be any better off as a result of this?

:33:11.:33:15.

There's not a lot here in terms of measures for the group. We do of

:33:16.:33:18.

course have a national living wage rising to ?7 50 an hour in April,

:33:19.:33:23.

quite a big increase on the minimum wage as it was a year ago. That will

:33:24.:33:28.

help a lot in that group. Otherwise, we have got a small increase in the

:33:29.:33:34.

generosity of Universal Credit when it finally comes in but nowhere near

:33:35.:33:41.

offsetting the cuts announced back in June 2015, and no doubt we will

:33:42.:33:46.

also be told against freezing fuel duties will help that group although

:33:47.:33:49.

most of the money will go to better off people who tend to consume more

:33:50.:33:55.

fuel, more petrol. There's not an enormous amount here I think for

:33:56.:34:00.

that. We need to leave it there but we thank you for the initial

:34:01.:34:04.

reaction for that we look forward to the more considered one tomorrow

:34:05.:34:07.

when you have had a chance to go through the figures on that. Lets

:34:08.:34:11.

get reaction to the Chancellor's statement from Simon Jack. Thanks,

:34:12.:34:20.

Andrew. We have been monitoring the pound, usually the most sensitive

:34:21.:34:24.

market to economic announcements like this and it started rising and

:34:25.:34:29.

then falling and we've ended up pretty much back where we were. It's

:34:30.:34:34.

a surprise because those borrowing numbers were more horrible than we

:34:35.:34:39.

were expecting, ?122 billion more in debt over the five-year period. That

:34:40.:34:45.

announcement that as a percentage of GDP will hit 90% in 2017-18 is the

:34:46.:34:51.

highest it's been for 50 years. Given we were gloomy about growth

:34:52.:34:55.

forecasts and those numbers are sensitive to those GDP numbers, but

:34:56.:34:59.

perhaps it's not that surprising we braced ourselves for the worst.

:35:00.:35:13.

First of all, on that big picture, 90% debt to GDP looks like a

:35:14.:35:16.

horrible number. It is a horrible number and that's why people have

:35:17.:35:21.

been constrained here. The surprising thing for me is the

:35:22.:35:27.

growth forecast into the future. Although there is a huge amount of

:35:28.:35:31.

uncertainty underpinning those, they are a bit better than people had

:35:32.:35:35.

feared. A little bit more optimistic than some had feared but also what

:35:36.:35:40.

was quite interesting in a statement from the OBR, they were looking at

:35:41.:35:43.

how they came up with those assumptions, factoring in Brexit,

:35:44.:35:49.

and they were clearly saying they thought trade volumes would be lower

:35:50.:35:53.

and there would be a cost to Brexit. Yes, that is what they are factoring

:35:54.:35:57.

in as one of the high inflation and the impact it will have on consumer

:35:58.:36:02.

spending. It is those two things combined but maybe not as much of a

:36:03.:36:07.

hit as people in the city had forecast for those numbers to be.

:36:08.:36:11.

It's always thought you got to have a credible plan about debt and what

:36:12.:36:14.

he said today was his going to balance the books as early as

:36:15.:36:19.

possible in the next Parliament. Is that good enough? We will see from

:36:20.:36:24.

the Stirling chance, and moved. He's in a difficult position trying to

:36:25.:36:29.

engender growth in a period of great uncertainty, we don't know quite

:36:30.:36:32.

what Brexit will bring as well as all the global phenomena going on. I

:36:33.:36:39.

think it is a tough ask. There are other things other than Brexit

:36:40.:36:46.

affecting the dynamic growth. Simon, a big emphasis on infrastructure and

:36:47.:36:50.

productivity. That presumably chimed in with you. Yes, it's all tied

:36:51.:36:58.

together and that figure, 30% less productive, in Britain than Germany

:36:59.:37:03.

or USA, it's a real problem. What we know about this Chancellor,

:37:04.:37:07.

addressing that is his number one priority and a lot of what we've

:37:08.:37:11.

seen today is about that and he tied that into the infrastructure,

:37:12.:37:17.

digital, housing, transport, and we are disappointed there's nothing on

:37:18.:37:22.

capital allowances, the annual investment allowance because that

:37:23.:37:29.

improves productivity. It's not as ambitious as might have been.

:37:30.:37:33.

Ambition to invest here and now over the next year for businesses who are

:37:34.:37:39.

uncertain and hesitant because we are being cautious. This'll be the

:37:40.:37:44.

last Autumn Statement and will now be an autumn budget and then a

:37:45.:37:48.

spring statement. This will be the big one. We will have a small

:37:49.:37:54.

announcement in spring. If he doesn't tinker with things in

:37:55.:37:57.

spring, we have one big budget a year and that's good for business

:37:58.:38:01.

because this continual tinkering as to the workload for businesses. Yes,

:38:02.:38:06.

it's to be welcomed, the fact you're going to an autumn budget gives

:38:07.:38:10.

businesses more time to plan for the incoming tax year than they've had

:38:11.:38:14.

with a Spring Budget. I think the fact we won't have fiscal events as

:38:15.:38:19.

they are called the whole time, has to be good. One thing I thought I

:38:20.:38:26.

heard was the death knell of the triple lock saying it was safe until

:38:27.:38:31.

the end of 2020 but given changes in longevity might need looking at. Did

:38:32.:38:36.

you hear that for pensions? I thought there was a hint of that, it

:38:37.:38:40.

will be reviewed, and this is favouring a part of the community

:38:41.:38:44.

which has been favoured a lot over the last ten years and we need to

:38:45.:38:48.

address more to young people struggling in their first houses. On

:38:49.:38:54.

the house-building, we got what we expected. Yes, and it will need to

:38:55.:39:00.

be a continuing priority. We say it's freeing up planning regulation

:39:01.:39:05.

that will really help people. Sue and Simon, thank you very much

:39:06.:39:08.

indeed. The markets took this in their stride despite these horrible

:39:09.:39:13.

numbers, people were expecting much gloomier growth forecasts. The city

:39:14.:39:21.

today was braced for that news. Thank you, Simon. Let's speak to the

:39:22.:39:27.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Welcome to the special programme. We

:39:28.:39:31.

have got slower growth, higher inflation, weaker tax revenues,

:39:32.:39:37.

squeezed living standards, spectacularly high borrowing. What

:39:38.:39:43.

is the good news? It shouldn't come as surprise to anyone as they go

:39:44.:39:47.

through a period of transition following the Brexit vote, that

:39:48.:39:50.

there are challenges for the economy. I think the key thing is

:39:51.:39:54.

that the government responds as is necessary. We have given ourselves

:39:55.:39:59.

greater flexibility for that we are taking steps to improve

:40:00.:40:03.

productivity. We're also doing this in a way that maintains credibility

:40:04.:40:08.

in our public finances. How can it be credible? It's only November. In

:40:09.:40:13.

March this year, you told us what he planned to borrow for the next five

:40:14.:40:19.

years. You are now going to borrow ?122 billion more than you told us

:40:20.:40:25.

you would borrow six or seven months ago. That is the OBR's estimate and

:40:26.:40:30.

they are clear in their explanation as to why that is. They

:40:31.:40:36.

predominantly put that down to the consequences of the Brexit vote. And

:40:37.:40:40.

the uncertainty that follows from that leading to reduced investment

:40:41.:40:47.

and therefore slower growth over this period of time. Than also some

:40:48.:40:52.

structural challenges we face about different ways of working and the

:40:53.:40:58.

fact it brings in fewer tax receipts than we would otherwise have, so,

:40:59.:41:02.

yes, we face challenges but the difference between March and

:41:03.:41:05.

November, quite a lot hasn't happened between them. In 2010, you

:41:06.:41:12.

told us he would balance the budget by 2015. That didn't happen. By

:41:13.:41:17.

2015, you told us it would balance the budget by 2020. That's not going

:41:18.:41:21.

to happen. Now you can't tell us when it's going to be balanced.

:41:22.:41:27.

Correct? Circumstances have changed. The OBR said, had we had the Brexit

:41:28.:41:32.

vote go the other way, they say we would still be on course to have a

:41:33.:41:38.

surplus by 2019-20 but the circumstances are no different and

:41:39.:41:41.

we have to respond to those circumstances and that's exactly

:41:42.:41:46.

what the Chancellor set out to do. Do you feel, being in a government,

:41:47.:41:51.

supposedly a fiscally conservative government, that, by the end of this

:41:52.:41:54.

decade, we will probably have increased the national debt to

:41:55.:42:04.

macro-?2,000,000,000,000? -- ?2 trillion. You have to look at why

:42:05.:42:11.

that has happened. We inherited an economy where we borrowed a record

:42:12.:42:16.

amount. What was a national debt when you inherited it? Debt has gone

:42:17.:42:22.

up, Andrew, very significantly over a period of time. Debt is

:42:23.:42:27.

essentially the team elation of borrowing. We brought borrowing down

:42:28.:42:32.

through a period of time which has been a festival difficult because of

:42:33.:42:35.

a performance of the world economy, we actually wear on course to

:42:36.:42:41.

eliminate the deficit by the end... We will never know now. That is what

:42:42.:42:47.

the OBR said today. You are doing more than doubling the national

:42:48.:42:52.

debt. Well and trillion when you came to powerful that it could

:42:53.:42:55.

easily be macro-2,000,000,000,000 by 2020. -- 2 trillion by 2020. It has

:42:56.:43:05.

inflicted huge austerities on this country and yet you still have 2

:43:06.:43:10.

trillion debt. In other countries, people would be resigning over these

:43:11.:43:15.

figures. What is the argument, Andrew? We have done too much or

:43:16.:43:19.

done too little because other critics often say you have cut too

:43:20.:43:22.

much and there's been too much austerity and then complain about

:43:23.:43:27.

the fact... The argument is you haven't done what you have said you

:43:28.:43:30.

would done. We've made a number of difficult decisions that has brought

:43:31.:43:36.

our deficit down by almost two thirds full there was a time I

:43:37.:43:39.

remember in 2010 when people thought we have to bring the IMF into

:43:40.:43:45.

bailiffs out. Really? I do remember that. Ken Clarke and George Osborne

:43:46.:43:51.

said at a press conference a few days before the general election. I

:43:52.:43:56.

can remember others as well. The point is we faced a crisis in 2010

:43:57.:44:03.

but restored credibility. That was six years ago and you're still

:44:04.:44:06.

borrowing more than ever. Because of the scale of the challenge we face

:44:07.:44:13.

today. We did maintain the confidence of the markets in the UK,

:44:14.:44:17.

which is not a given in 2010. I'm sure you would agree. Now we face

:44:18.:44:22.

new challenges for the question is, how does the government sort this

:44:23.:44:29.

out? Should we chase the 2010 surplus target? A la judgment is

:44:30.:44:32.

that the wrong thing to do, it would be too harsh on the economy given

:44:33.:44:39.

the uncertainty we now face. This is an entirely pragmatic sensible

:44:40.:44:42.

response to the circumstances we are in and that involves borrowing more

:44:43.:44:47.

for economic infrastructure. ?23 billion. You are borrowing 122

:44:48.:44:55.

billion more. As Andrew are suggesting, you have been failing

:44:56.:44:58.

your own tests and the location from today is you are go into the next

:44:59.:45:03.

general election unable to tell the general public when you will balance

:45:04.:45:08.

the books. We are unable to say when we will balance the books at this

:45:09.:45:12.

point as the Chancellor made clear, the rule is we will have the

:45:13.:45:18.

structural deficit below 2% by the end of this Parliament at this

:45:19.:45:24.

point. What we are saying is we will be in overall surplus at some point

:45:25.:45:27.

in the next Parliament. As soon as possible.

:45:28.:45:34.

Our viewers should not expect going into the next general election

:45:35.:45:39.

without being able to tell the public when you will have balanced

:45:40.:45:44.

the books. What we will be able to say by the time we get to 2020 is

:45:45.:45:49.

difficult to judge at the moment. We are entering into a period of

:45:50.:45:54.

uncertainty. The intention is to eliminate the overall deficit as

:45:55.:45:56.

soon as possible in the next Parliament. We should have that

:45:57.:46:05.

flexibility at the moment. By 2020 you will give a much more definite

:46:06.:46:10.

signal to the public who voted for you on the basis you are there to

:46:11.:46:14.

fix the public finances. The answer is, we do not know at this stage. We

:46:15.:46:20.

are going into a period of uncertainty. It is right, during a

:46:21.:46:25.

period of uncertainty, the pragmatic thing is to have that flexibility to

:46:26.:46:31.

respond to events. Where we will be by 2020, of course, we don't

:46:32.:46:38.

precisely know. George Osborne said a debt to GDP ratio of 90% was not

:46:39.:46:44.

sustainable. That is the bigger your going to hit next year. Presumably,

:46:45.:46:49.

it is not sustainable. One of the factors in now, as the Chancellor

:46:50.:46:53.

made clear, our debt numbers are made worse by some of the

:46:54.:46:58.

allegations of the Bank of England operations, which are necessary. I

:46:59.:47:01.

am making the point that has boosted the debt number. There is an

:47:02.:47:06.

important point that we do have to bring down debt. I would like to

:47:07.:47:12.

bring debt down earlier and faster but we have to respond to the

:47:13.:47:16.

circumstances that exist in the economy. The circumstances that

:47:17.:47:21.

exist at the moment, a period of uncertainty whereby we need

:47:22.:47:24.

flexibility to respond. That is what the Chancellor is saying. That is a

:47:25.:47:29.

pragmatic response to the circumstances. One intriguing hint

:47:30.:47:32.

towards the end of the statement. The Chancellor suggested the

:47:33.:47:35.

governance might look at spending protections for some departments. In

:47:36.:47:42.

other words can he was suspect he might lose the triple lock on

:47:43.:47:46.

pensions and get rid of the ring fence on NHS spending. They have

:47:47.:47:51.

made commitments for this parliament which the Chancellor reaffirmed. We

:47:52.:47:55.

always make these commitments Parliament by Parliament. That was a

:47:56.:47:59.

pretty clear hint they have a sell by date. The commitments we will

:48:00.:48:03.

make for the next Parliament will be made at the next spending review.

:48:04.:48:09.

They are not to be made now. At the point of the next spending review we

:48:10.:48:13.

will have to look at how the economy is doing and what is affordable. Let

:48:14.:48:19.

me ask you, that just about managing classes. Your government is the one

:48:20.:48:23.

that puts them at the centre of everything. They are just about

:48:24.:48:29.

managing. Is it not clear, from everything that is happening to the

:48:30.:48:33.

economy in what was announced today, that at the end of this decade, the

:48:34.:48:38.

just about managing classes will be worse off than they are today? I

:48:39.:48:44.

don't think it is just about clear. If you look at it, we have just had

:48:45.:48:51.

a period of time where growth in living standards have actually been

:48:52.:48:55.

pretty high, the last couple of years in particular we have seen

:48:56.:48:59.

living standards growing very fast. It is the case, given that we are

:49:00.:49:04.

likely to see higher inflation, there will be a squeeze over the

:49:05.:49:09.

next couple of years. And benefits are frozen. From 2018, we will see

:49:10.:49:14.

earnings rising again. That is what the OBR is predicting. Let's get

:49:15.:49:21.

this point clear. Even if inflation does not cover as badly as you

:49:22.:49:26.

think, it does not matter for them. The benefits of frozen. Whatever the

:49:27.:49:31.

inflation rate, they are worse off. I think what you will find I

:49:32.:49:35.

appreciate not having a chance to go through all the numbers yet but what

:49:36.:49:39.

you will find with the information we have, living standards will be

:49:40.:49:42.

higher by the end of this parliament and they were at the beginning. I

:49:43.:49:49.

would suggest to you, minister, just about managing. People who really

:49:50.:49:56.

fit into that working families needing Universal Credit to top up

:49:57.:50:00.

because they are not being paid enough to be able to survive. They

:50:01.:50:04.

get some extra welfare benefits and they are still just about managing.

:50:05.:50:11.

Even when you take into account the rise in the National Living Wage

:50:12.:50:14.

that is planned, the income tax cuts. Some of them, come out of

:50:15.:50:19.

income tax altogether. Free childcare as we have talked about.

:50:20.:50:24.

Working families will be, on average, ?800 worse off by the end

:50:25.:50:31.

of the decade. ?1300, when you take in the impact of the benefit freeze.

:50:32.:50:36.

I am not sure I recognise those numbers. One of the things we have

:50:37.:50:44.

announced today has been in -- reduction of the tape are rate. 2p.

:50:45.:50:50.

To give an example, a couple with the highest earner on 30,000, two

:50:51.:50:55.

children, the housing element of Universal Credit, they will benefit

:50:56.:51:04.

from the 2p matter by ?420 a year. I have taken the 2% take that into

:51:05.:51:09.

account. The fact is, whatever way you cut it, working families on

:51:10.:51:14.

Universal Credit will be worse off by the end of this decade. You could

:51:15.:51:21.

argue that may be one of the prices that has to be paid to stop

:51:22.:51:27.

borrowing get way out of hand. Your government may do just about

:51:28.:51:31.

managing the centrepiece of this government and they will be worse

:51:32.:51:34.

off. I don't particularly recognise those numbers but it is important to

:51:35.:51:41.

say, coming back to our earlier conversation, we do have to get

:51:42.:51:45.

public finances under control. You have raised perfidy fairly criticism

:51:46.:51:50.

of you should be going faster. We have to strike a balance between

:51:51.:51:55.

critical credibility, reducing the deficit but also ensuring we have an

:51:56.:52:02.

economy that can withstand this and help the just about managing. You

:52:03.:52:10.

cannot say you're going to make the just about managing the centrepiece

:52:11.:52:13.

of your policies and they end up most. -- worse off. Let me make this

:52:14.:52:22.

point. One of the ways in which, ultimately, we raise living

:52:23.:52:27.

standards, and we have an economy which can afford world-class public

:52:28.:52:32.

services, it is by ensuring we have stronger productivity. That is a big

:52:33.:52:35.

focus of what the Chancellor was saying today. About productivity and

:52:36.:52:41.

research and development and transport infrastructure and

:52:42.:52:43.

housing. These are all measures which can ensure the UK economy can

:52:44.:52:48.

grow more and prosper more, improve productivity and wages and salaries.

:52:49.:52:52.

That is ultimately the way in which you help all of the people in this

:52:53.:52:58.

country. That is very clearly what the Chancellor was arguing today. I

:52:59.:53:03.

was going to say, the problem you have with that today, is Number 10,

:53:04.:53:09.

the Prime Minister has set up a political aspiration, her political

:53:10.:53:12.

aspiration, that she will help people directly and feel it in their

:53:13.:53:17.

pockets. The Chancellor may feel it is better to prioritise the

:53:18.:53:21.

long-term economy and infrastructure but you have a mismatch. The

:53:22.:53:24.

rhetoric of the Prime Minister and the reality of what this statement

:53:25.:53:29.

has put forward. I do not accept that. When you look at what we have

:53:30.:53:32.

just announced in terms of the Universal Credit taper, if you look

:53:33.:53:38.

at what we have done with fuel duty and all of the things in terms of

:53:39.:53:43.

housing, the additional ?1.4 billion for affordable housing, those are

:53:44.:53:48.

all measures that are going to help ordinary, working class families in

:53:49.:53:53.

a period of uncertainty and difficulty, which we can discuss the

:53:54.:53:59.

reasons behind that a little bit. It is a balance has to be struck. The

:54:00.:54:05.

long-term credibility of our public finances. The long-term growth of

:54:06.:54:09.

the economy through better infrastructure, etc come and also

:54:10.:54:15.

helping the British public through potentially a difficult year or two.

:54:16.:54:19.

The Chancellor has struck that balanced very well today. Meanwhile,

:54:20.:54:25.

the just about managing will have to continue just about managing. Thank

:54:26.:54:29.

you for being with us. I know it is a busy day for you as well as the

:54:30.:54:31.

Chancellor. Let's go back to Jo

:54:32.:54:33.

Coburn in Portsmouth. Andrew, I am sheltering underneath a

:54:34.:54:44.

child catamaran, here at the home of where they build this racing vote in

:54:45.:54:52.

Portsmouth. One of the points that would have been very relevant for

:54:53.:54:55.

this part of the UK was when Philip Hammond said he felt too much

:54:56.:55:00.

economic growth have been focused on London and the south-east at the

:55:01.:55:04.

expense of cities like Portsmouth. Who better to discuss that point

:55:05.:55:09.

with them than Donna Jones, the Conservative leader of Portsmouth

:55:10.:55:13.

City Council. How big is that gap between cities like Portsmouth and

:55:14.:55:17.

London and the South East? Here in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight we

:55:18.:55:21.

have a productivity gap with the remainder of the south-east of

:55:22.:55:25.

England and even greater into the tens of billions if compared to

:55:26.:55:29.

London. I do welcome some of the announcements today. Was that money

:55:30.:55:32.

is needed in the north of the country to make the economy grow, we

:55:33.:55:36.

also need infrastructure in the south-east as well. Have you been

:55:37.:55:42.

jealous of the northern Powerhouse? Could something like that be done

:55:43.:55:48.

here? We have been working on a sale and combined authority. The money

:55:49.:55:51.

that comes through from government to enable local authorities to build

:55:52.:55:58.

motorways. Key infrastructure is vital. How badly do you need new

:55:59.:56:03.

roads and new infrastructure? The Tunstall talked about new

:56:04.:56:07.

investment. It does not sound like much. -- the Chancellor. We are

:56:08.:56:17.

still in an austerity programme and have a deficit nationally. I welcome

:56:18.:56:22.

the announcement for the ?3.7 billion has been announced for

:56:23.:56:24.

infrastructure to aid housing delivery and roads specifically. We

:56:25.:56:31.

have not had any investment in rail infrastructure since the 60s and we

:56:32.:56:34.

need to rebuild part of the motorway in Portsmouth. To deliver the

:56:35.:56:41.

thousands of homes we need to build, we need some more infrastructure in

:56:42.:56:46.

roads and rail. Otherwise you cannot deliver those homes? It makes it

:56:47.:56:50.

difficult. What about affordable housing? This is much less than is

:56:51.:56:58.

actually needed across the country. It is a very good start. I welcome

:56:59.:57:04.

the fact the Chancellor has taken a pragmatic approach to budget

:57:05.:57:06.

neutrality, today making the announcement that we will not repeat

:57:07.:57:15.

a budget neutral position by 2020 but it will be achieved at some

:57:16.:57:20.

point beyond that. I think that is realistic. I have looked at the OBR

:57:21.:57:25.

forecast for the next five years. Today was a very sensible budget. We

:57:26.:57:30.

need more money and growth infrastructure. The keyword for me

:57:31.:57:34.

is a ramp built. Build more homes were build more roads and create

:57:35.:57:42.

over 500,000 new jobs. -- around Guild. You said you would welcome

:57:43.:57:47.

flexibility in terms of balancing the books. What does that mean about

:57:48.:57:51.

the state of public finances which will affect you as a council? There

:57:52.:57:57.

have been upsides and downsides. I welcome the increase in the personal

:57:58.:58:01.

allowance for tax payers. Taking over 2 million people out of tax

:58:02.:58:09.

with the increased to ?11,500 by 2018. Putting money back into

:58:10.:58:16.

pockets. The increase in the National Living Wage will have an

:58:17.:58:20.

effect. We do have people through care contracts we award looking

:58:21.:58:22.

after elderly people who will be paid around the living wage and that

:58:23.:58:27.

will have a slight effect on our balance sheets. John McDonnell said

:58:28.:58:32.

was nothing from his perspective boosting social care and never be

:58:33.:58:39.

more pressure on the NHS. We were anticipating an increase in the

:58:40.:58:43.

adult care precept. I think that announcement may come in the next

:58:44.:58:49.

b-day. It was not included today in the Chancellor's budget but that is

:58:50.:58:52.

the sort of thing that we will be looking very closely at, the details

:58:53.:58:58.

of the implications from today's Autumn Statement. Donna mentioned

:58:59.:59:03.

the families who will just be managing. Those who are only just

:59:04.:59:07.

about managing to pay their bills, pay their rent is, perhaps pay

:59:08.:59:12.

mortgages. Let's talk to our personal finance experts, Ruth

:59:13.:59:16.

Alexander, about some of the issues affecting them. Was there much in

:59:17.:59:20.

this budget to help those who are just about managing? There was a

:59:21.:59:24.

little bit. I do not think anyone will see their lives massively

:59:25.:59:27.

transformed by what was announced. We would talking about the personal

:59:28.:59:31.

allowance increasing. That was announced before. It is the point at

:59:32.:59:36.

which you have to pay tax. It will increase to ?12,500. ?12,500 by the

:59:37.:59:45.

end of the Parliament. By 2020, 20 21. It will take some people out of

:59:46.:59:50.

tax altogether and help others. The higher rate tax threshold will go to

:59:51.:59:58.

?50 million -- ?50,000 by the end of parliament. It will help savers. At

:59:59.:00:02.

the moment you cannot get any sort of decent interest rate on savings.

:00:03.:00:06.

It is so hard. The Government has said it will have a market leading

:00:07.:00:11.

savings bond. Most of the detail will be in the budget that they

:00:12.:00:15.

expect it will have an interest rate of 2.2% of that not a huge amount.

:00:16.:00:20.

You will be able to save up to ?3000. The fact that fuel duty will

:00:21.:00:27.

be frozen for the seventh year in a row will be good news to anyone

:00:28.:00:33.

worried it could get a bit higher. I had an e-mail from Kate Hugh asks,

:00:34.:00:39.

will wages for 16-17 -year-olds increase? Yes, but I'm not sure this

:00:40.:00:43.

is the news she was hoping for. I'm afraid by just 5p an hour. The

:00:44.:00:48.

reason she was asking is there's been a lot of talk and in fact it

:00:49.:00:51.

was confirmed that the national living wages going to go up for

:00:52.:00:57.

people who are aged 25 and over. That is going from ?7 20 up to ?7 50

:00:58.:01:03.

from April. It sounds good but earlier in the year it is expected

:01:04.:01:06.

it would go up a little bit more. So that's not great. Daniel and Darren

:01:07.:01:13.

have asked, letting agents fees, when will the fees coming? It's

:01:14.:01:17.

going to be as soon as possible. Darren is renegotiating a contact at

:01:18.:01:22.

the moment and they want to charge a fee for that. He says, does this

:01:23.:01:28.

mean I won't have to do? When do you think we will find when that will

:01:29.:01:32.

come in? As soon as possible, maybe in the next month or so. Of course,

:01:33.:01:37.

the bigger news Philip Hammond announced was that this will be the

:01:38.:01:40.

last ever Autumn Statement. Back to you, Andrew.

:01:41.:01:46.

We are in mourning here for it. But we are buoyed by the idea that there

:01:47.:01:52.

will be a spring statement instead. Viewers in Scotland leave us now for

:01:53.:01:54.

more on the impact of the Autumn Statement. If you are just joining

:01:55.:02:02.

us, wondering what happened, let's give you a recap from the Autumn

:02:03.:02:07.

Statement, the first major financial statement by the new Chancellor

:02:08.:02:11.

Philip Hammond. Economic forecast. The government is predicting debt,

:02:12.:02:17.

our total national accumulated debt, will reach 90% of our overall wealth

:02:18.:02:24.

of GDP by 2017-18. Borrowing is going to increase. The idea of a

:02:25.:02:30.

budget surplus is not going to be reached by the end of this decade.

:02:31.:02:33.

Indeed, there is no word when it will be reached now. The growth

:02:34.:02:41.

forecast is falling to 1.4% next year. They get a little bit better

:02:42.:02:46.

the year after that and then rise again so next year the OBR, a lot of

:02:47.:02:50.

pressure on the OBR to see the growth forecast right, because a lot

:02:51.:02:56.

has fallen from it. Main measures the Chancellor announced, the

:02:57.:03:00.

National living wage will rise to ?7 50 an hour by April. That was in the

:03:01.:03:06.

pipeline so no surprise there. Fuel duty rises, cancelled. The seventh

:03:07.:03:14.

year in a row. He's cancelled the automatic rise in fuel duty.

:03:15.:03:20.

Insurance Premium Tax will increase to 12%. It's one of the taxes

:03:21.:03:26.

chancellors think they can nudge up without anybody noticing too much

:03:27.:03:31.

until the and arrives. He announced 23 billion for a new national

:03:32.:03:36.

productivity investment fund and that is spread over five years but,

:03:37.:03:42.

by the end of five years, there will be several billion more going into

:03:43.:03:49.

productivity investment. A few other measures, Universal Credit taper is

:03:50.:03:59.

reduced from 65-63p for every ?1. A marginal adjustment for those who

:04:00.:04:03.

lose benefits. Another 1.4 billion to help 40,000 new homes, only in

:04:04.:04:08.

England, but that's a problem because it is spread over a number

:04:09.:04:15.

of years. Northern Ireland, 250 million, Wales, 400, Scotland, 800.

:04:16.:04:21.

As we said earlier, the Autumn Statement is being abolished. Which,

:04:22.:04:27.

for people like me, is a very sad day indeed. We have got a spring

:04:28.:04:34.

statement instead so hurray for that. Lets go back to Joanna on

:04:35.:04:41.

College Green. Yes, thank you for that with metres Tim Farron and Tim

:04:42.:04:49.

reckless. We heard from the Chancellor talk about the underlying

:04:50.:04:53.

resilience of the economy and eye watering levels of debt and the

:04:54.:05:00.

figure is ?122 billion additional borrowing. How would you assess the

:05:01.:05:04.

state of the nation 's finances from what you have heard? I think we have

:05:05.:05:09.

just seen the epitaph of the fact over the last five months all of the

:05:10.:05:12.

good work we did on financial stability in the coalition has been

:05:13.:05:16.

undone and the Chancellor will say he had no alternative but the OBR's

:05:17.:05:22.

figure is 220 billion. Brexit means an increase of unemployment, lower

:05:23.:05:31.

growth, lower living standards and spiralling debt. If we believe that

:05:32.:05:36.

this is a disaster Britain should avoid, particularly the hard Brexit

:05:37.:05:39.

nobody voted for, but we deserve better than the white flag the

:05:40.:05:43.

Labour Party is waving this afternoon. I would say if the

:05:44.:05:49.

epitaph for the 3 million jobs like, people like Tim Farron telling us 3

:05:50.:05:54.

million jobs would be at risk if we left the EU and receive the official

:05:55.:05:57.

forecast for unemployment, after we're left the EU is just 860,000.

:05:58.:06:04.

What about those debt figures, ?122 billion of borrowing extra, GDP not

:06:05.:06:12.

doing as well as anticipated, and the overall level of debt not going

:06:13.:06:17.

down? The growth forecast is reasonably good but the government

:06:18.:06:21.

is borrowing too much. They talk a tough game on austerity but their

:06:22.:06:24.

words are not matched with deed. What would you say? We will

:06:25.:06:31.

accelerate leaving the European Union. Every month we are in, it's

:06:32.:06:37.

?1 billion we have to pay. A cliff edge fall in our contributions are

:06:38.:06:40.

no more contributions to the EU after the set December 2018

:06:41.:06:45.

according to the statement. We like to make savings on overseas aid,

:06:46.:06:52.

humanitarian disaster relief, scrap HS2, look at the green subsidies and

:06:53.:06:56.

bleeding of the public finances in order. What we have discovered in

:06:57.:07:01.

terms of the black hole within the Chancellor's budget, 220 -- ?220

:07:02.:07:10.

million, that increases attacks across the board and at the same

:07:11.:07:15.

time, since the 23rd of June, it seems every day has been a good day

:07:16.:07:18.

to bury bad news and the worst news has been within the national health

:07:19.:07:22.

and social care services. There wasn't an extra penny given to the

:07:23.:07:26.

NHS today. The problem is, whilst we head towards a hard Brexit which

:07:27.:07:32.

nobody voted for, and an exit from the single market, we are seeing

:07:33.:07:37.

less income into the Exchequer, less money for the health service and

:07:38.:07:43.

schools. The savings Mark Reckless talks about? I admire him for

:07:44.:07:50.

carrying on repeating what was on the side of our bus. It's a delight

:07:51.:07:56.

to hear somebody standing by it but you're the only person on the planet

:07:57.:08:01.

is still believes that. We have had some truth today. The gap between

:08:02.:08:05.

what we could have had and will have is a quarter of ?1 trillion over

:08:06.:08:09.

this parliament. Can you imagine the number of nurses, doctors, social

:08:10.:08:13.

workers, teachers, police officers and soldiers we could pay for if

:08:14.:08:16.

this government hadn't gone for a hard Brexit nobody voted for? What

:08:17.:08:25.

would happen to the economy at Brexit had not happened? You talk

:08:26.:08:27.

much about it increase in unemployment and it's going the

:08:28.:08:33.

other way. ?220 billion hole in the public finances, we will see what

:08:34.:08:36.

that will lead to. The worst thing in the world is to be in opposition

:08:37.:08:40.

wanting things to go badly to prove your case. I don't want that. I want

:08:41.:08:46.

Britain to be strong which is why I think his announcement on

:08:47.:08:50.

infrastructure, are actually encouraging at a time of low

:08:51.:08:54.

interest rates. We should be spending but the problem is that

:08:55.:08:59.

because of making a choice of hard Brexit but nobody voted for, he has

:09:00.:09:03.

put himself in a position where that good work you could be doing on

:09:04.:09:06.

infrastructure investment will be swamped and dwarfed other black hole

:09:07.:09:12.

he is creating. We are in a period of complete uncertainty and

:09:13.:09:18.

unpredictable it in terms of these predictions we are hearing today and

:09:19.:09:21.

predictions are not always right. We don't really what the impact will be

:09:22.:09:27.

once Britain leads the youth. We had the Treasury suggesting six months

:09:28.:09:31.

ago telling us if we left, unemployment would be 1.2 million,

:09:32.:09:35.

1.3 million next year and now we hear from the independent office

:09:36.:09:42.

from budget was once ability, it will be 860,000. We get more

:09:43.:09:49.

certainty that contribution to the EU budget stopped in 2018 assembler,

:09:50.:09:54.

and there are no tariffs going forward with the European Union so

:09:55.:09:57.

that's good news in terms of official position and business can

:09:58.:10:02.

plan on the business they won't be tariffs with the EU and we have

:10:03.:10:05.

savings online and the outlook is pretty good. A wonderful piece of

:10:06.:10:11.

spin. The reality is the one figure we can't ignore, it is obvious,

:10:12.:10:17.

there are 500 million consumers in the European Union in a single

:10:18.:10:21.

market, the largest most prosperous market on earth, and a major reason

:10:22.:10:25.

for that enormous black hole it it will affect every public service,

:10:26.:10:29.

family in this country, because Britain is heading outside of that

:10:30.:10:35.

single market so to access it is nonsense for that North Korea has

:10:36.:10:39.

got the access to the single market. Membership will be the difference in

:10:40.:10:41.

this country floundering and growing. Tariff free access to the

:10:42.:10:48.

single market is probably what would agree is desirable. Why would that

:10:49.:10:53.

happen without freedom of movement? According to the official forecast,

:10:54.:10:56.

it will and they don't expect revenue from tariffs which would be

:10:57.:11:02.

far more from us than us and it's not in interest. I don't that will

:11:03.:11:09.

happen. What we have heard today and the fact that the borrowing figures

:11:10.:11:13.

are where they are, would the last years of austerity of being a waste

:11:14.:11:16.

of time because people out there will think I have been hit so hard

:11:17.:11:21.

and the nation 's finances are still in a state? For five years, the Lib

:11:22.:11:25.

Dems not making ourselves popular in the process, fought to make sure

:11:26.:11:29.

there was famous while we put the lid on excessive spending to get the

:11:30.:11:33.

finances in order. The last five months, completely undone the fourth

:11:34.:11:38.

reputation for fiscal responsibility is out the window as a consequence.

:11:39.:11:42.

It is more depressing for the people around the country who have suffered

:11:43.:11:46.

the consequences of that and, yes, austerity... It's nothing about what

:11:47.:11:50.

may come if we don't maintain membership of the single market. A

:11:51.:11:57.

soft Brexit if possible. Give the British people a say on the final

:11:58.:12:01.

terms. The Chancellor says he can afford to do what he's doing because

:12:02.:12:05.

of the reputation hilltop with austerity and the management of the

:12:06.:12:10.

economy. He is putting out these new fiscal rules. What do you think of

:12:11.:12:15.

those? We've been asking for some time and that's what we encourage

:12:16.:12:18.

when we were in government. The problem is, the good stuff in this

:12:19.:12:26.

Autumn Statement, essentially the investment in our infrastructure,

:12:27.:12:29.

it's far too small, it is dwarfed by is needed, and also massively

:12:30.:12:34.

dwarfed by the enormous black hole and damage done by the impending

:12:35.:12:40.

hard Brexit which nobody voted for. The infrastructure spend is too

:12:41.:12:46.

small a. Lets get on the shovel ready local projects, improve the

:12:47.:12:48.

Manchester to Liverpool line, scrap the tolls on the crossings of the

:12:49.:12:53.

Severn Bridge, the Mersey Tunnel and the Dartford Crossing, and we can

:12:54.:12:59.

pay for that by cutting HS2, as you'd think in a juju, reduce

:13:00.:13:04.

overseas aid and makes an savings. Thank you both very much. Back to

:13:05.:13:11.

you, Andrew. Thanks, Laura, what are the politics

:13:12.:13:16.

of this? How will this go down with a Tory backbenchers? In a funny way,

:13:17.:13:20.

they may have some irritation on both sides of the Eurosceptic right

:13:21.:13:25.

end and also those more liberal conservatives. The sort of tweaking

:13:26.:13:32.

of the cuts to Universal Credit don't make much difference and there

:13:33.:13:35.

has been a lot of strong feeling on the Tory benches about making that

:13:36.:13:40.

change in order to make that message about helping people who are having

:13:41.:13:46.

a good hard time ring true. At the other end, some people really

:13:47.:13:48.

believe the Tories should have gone further and harder in cutting the

:13:49.:13:54.

first time around and the idea of pushing out paying down the deficit

:13:55.:13:57.

even further is also not going to be very popular. More broadly, though,

:13:58.:14:02.

I think we are in a period where the Tory backbenchers are maybe a bit

:14:03.:14:07.

grumpy around the edges but not massively restive. Broadly, I don't

:14:08.:14:11.

think there is going to be uprisings and public theory to any great

:14:12.:14:16.

extent about today. You have discovered an interesting figure.

:14:17.:14:20.

Buried in one of the document is a figure for how much it might cost

:14:21.:14:24.

Whitehall to go through the process of us leaving the European Union.

:14:25.:14:27.

There's been a lot of concern in recent days about how many civil

:14:28.:14:32.

servants we will need, is Whitehall up to it? The statement reveals

:14:33.:14:37.

expect ?412 million to be the cost just in Whitehall of getting through

:14:38.:14:44.

our departure from the EU. Nothing to do with a potential consequences

:14:45.:14:47.

for the economy. Actually what it will cost central government to get

:14:48.:14:53.

this done. At a time they have to look for savings all over the place,

:14:54.:14:58.

a billion quid just on admin, quite a big lot of money. To what extent,

:14:59.:15:06.

you are a new Chancellor, so maybe you have a benchmark, get the worst

:15:07.:15:12.

out first. And everything gets better. Should we look at it like

:15:13.:15:17.

that? Absolutely. He's like a new Chief Executive. You come in, you

:15:18.:15:25.

make sure that your bottom line, you're not going to minute belated,

:15:26.:15:29.

but it is as gloomy as possible because then things can look better.

:15:30.:15:34.

I don't think Philip Hammond will be looking to the headlines tomorrow or

:15:35.:15:42.

tonight, or next month, but don't forget 2020, and a general election,

:15:43.:15:47.

we just chatted with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who did

:15:48.:15:50.

not rule out making that budget balance target much more distinct

:15:51.:15:57.

either time of 2020. He had a vague notion about it now but by the

:15:58.:16:01.

election, he could be more confident about where things are going.

:16:02.:16:09.

The Government cannot let cuts and people on benefits take more of the

:16:10.:16:15.

pain. George Osborne was getting to the point where the Conservative

:16:16.:16:19.

Party were clear on voting down many of his tax credit changes. Philip

:16:20.:16:23.

Hammond needs to be a Chancellor who does what very few chancellors have

:16:24.:16:29.

managed to do over the decades and improve our economic performance

:16:30.:16:32.

will improve productivity. The other thing can not just about managing

:16:33.:16:36.

families are people getting onto the housing ladder, they have announced

:16:37.:16:40.

the group policies around house-building they hope will

:16:41.:16:45.

kick-start the housing market. These are incredibly slow, long-term,

:16:46.:16:49.

deeply entrenched problems. Philip Hammond knows in his gut they will

:16:50.:16:54.

be the test of his Chancellor ship rather than the state of the public

:16:55.:17:04.

finances. Let's get more political reaction now.

:17:05.:17:14.

We will go to the SNP Stuart Hovey. Every little helps. There is a 15,

:17:15.:17:32.

16% capital cut. All of that is helpful. The big story today was the

:17:33.:17:40.

way in which the 2010 promised to be fulfilled in 2015 numbers in

:17:41.:17:43.

deficit, debt and borrowing will not be met and the end of this

:17:44.:17:47.

Parliament. In the caves of the debt figure, not at all for it confirms

:17:48.:17:51.

what we have been saying for some time this decade of posterity has

:17:52.:17:57.

been an unmitigated disaster if the intention were to turn the numbers

:17:58.:18:07.

around -- austerity. Scotland's deficit is about 10% of GDP cost you

:18:08.:18:11.

are not really in a position to lecture the Chancellor, are you?

:18:12.:18:17.

Most of Scotland's con is run from London. -- economy is run from

:18:18.:18:27.

London. Whilst useful, it is not the whole amount, far from it. The

:18:28.:18:33.

deficit is driven by economic policy here. I am delighted that the

:18:34.:18:37.

Chancellor has changed tack by some extent. You must have seen some of

:18:38.:18:44.

this money coming. Have you given any thought as to how you will spend

:18:45.:18:50.

it? There were lots of rumours about what he might do in terms of

:18:51.:18:55.

capital, in terms of releasing the purse strings or not releasing the

:18:56.:19:00.

purse strings. Lots of mixed messages. The Government will

:19:01.:19:04.

determine before the Scottish Government budget does with the

:19:05.:19:07.

money and when they will get it. I am in no position to spend Scottish

:19:08.:19:14.

Government finances. I understand that. You have some new welfare

:19:15.:19:18.

powers and you have been highly critical of the Government's

:19:19.:19:23.

approach to disabled claimants. Would you start to top up these

:19:24.:19:29.

amounts herself in Scotland? That is a set of measures to be announced in

:19:30.:19:34.

the budget precisely how the powers are used and what level of

:19:35.:19:38.

mitigation might be possible in certain circumstances. I would not

:19:39.:19:43.

want to prejudge a budget statement that has not been made in Holyrood.

:19:44.:19:48.

That would be completely wrong. I understand that. Do you think some

:19:49.:19:53.

of your supporters would be blamed if they felt disappointed you are

:19:54.:19:57.

not rushing ahead to use the new powers you have? You seem to be

:19:58.:20:02.

taking your time overtaking them up, having campaigned so aggressively

:20:03.:20:07.

for them. As the First Minister has said, we will take the powers when

:20:08.:20:11.

offered and use them when we are able. The welfare system needs to be

:20:12.:20:16.

put into place to look to deliver a Social Security system that is fit

:20:17.:20:21.

for purpose. Given we have just had a UK statement, it might be slightly

:20:22.:20:26.

better to remind ourselves what he did today in terms of Social

:20:27.:20:29.

Security was change the taper, the amount of money people can take

:20:30.:20:33.

before they start to lose their benefits by 2p in the pound. On the

:20:34.:20:38.

minimum wage but that is about 14p an hour, not a king's runs and might

:20:39.:20:48.

be to turn lives around. What about the City deal? I understand every

:20:49.:20:50.

city in Scotland will now have a city deal? We have been calling for

:20:51.:20:58.

this. Fans have been laid. I spoke to the team a month ago. -- plans.

:20:59.:21:05.

What is done with that in terms of outcome and jobs needs to be fully

:21:06.:21:11.

packaged. That is a sellable deal. We will need to make sure that is

:21:12.:21:17.

delivered in full and on time. I am sure that Dundee, Perth and Angus

:21:18.:21:22.

and East Fife will benefit greatly from it. An extraordinary job has

:21:23.:21:33.

been done. Congratulations to them. Let's get more reaction from our

:21:34.:21:38.

business editor. The cities have been very important in the Autumn

:21:39.:21:42.

Statement given the post Brexit situation. Let's go back to Simon

:21:43.:21:46.

Jack. We have been looking at markets and how they have been

:21:47.:21:50.

reacting to what they have heard. The big thing today is what the

:21:51.:21:54.

public finances will look like. We have 90% debt as a percentage of GDP

:21:55.:22:01.

in 2017/18, the highest it has been for 50 years of this chart here

:22:02.:22:04.

tells us what the Government has to pay to borrow money over ten years.

:22:05.:22:11.

It has gone from 1.36% this morning to 1.4%. In fixed income terms, in

:22:12.:22:17.

bond terms, that is a big move. We are close to a total debt bill of

:22:18.:22:25.

people to see what they have taken away from the Autumn Statement.

:22:26.:22:36.

First of all, what jumped out at you from today's statement? Thinking of

:22:37.:22:42.

our front page tomorrow, it has to be the underlying economic

:22:43.:22:46.

conditions. It seems to be and in case of increased debt. Borrowing

:22:47.:22:52.

will be back. Almost Keynesian in some levels. Huge pledges of

:22:53.:22:57.

investment in certain sectors. Lower growth, lower tax receipts and

:22:58.:23:01.

higher borrowing. There were not huge numbers of rabbits out of the

:23:02.:23:05.

hat. There were some cheeky tax rises. We have had some angry

:23:06.:23:10.

insurance company bosses on the phone about a particular tax rise

:23:11.:23:15.

from 10% to 12% on insurance premiums. Gloomy, underlying

:23:16.:23:20.

economic conditions. He said the target to eliminate the deficit went

:23:21.:23:23.

at other windows some time ago. That was unrealistic. The new target to

:23:24.:23:29.

balance the books sometimes in the next parliament, or as as soon as

:23:30.:23:33.

possible. Osborne had his fiscal rules and failed to meet those.

:23:34.:23:42.

Hamilton has created several more. -- Hammond. The debt has been

:23:43.:23:51.

described as eye watering. It is an eye watering situation. Those are

:23:52.:23:54.

the conditions we have to operate in. A big emphasis on the spending

:23:55.:24:02.

he did announce today. A big emphasis on infrastructure and

:24:03.:24:05.

productivity. What did you make of it? A welcome down payment on future

:24:06.:24:13.

productivity of the economy. ?23 billion fund focusing on local

:24:14.:24:16.

infrastructure. That was something new. Local pinch points. Unlocking

:24:17.:24:24.

of regional growth. Plans announced on Monday with research and

:24:25.:24:27.

development. Also the developer had of new ideas in the UK. And of

:24:28.:24:32.

course broadband. That is something businesses are talking a lot about

:24:33.:24:38.

in terms of productivity. Also, unlocking the housing piece of this

:24:39.:24:42.

is difficult without roads and infrastructure to support new

:24:43.:24:45.

building. There was a renewed focus on that. Did you hear enough? We

:24:46.:24:52.

were pleased to see that. And was a connection between housing and

:24:53.:24:54.

transport and a commitment to building new homes. All types of

:24:55.:24:59.

different homes. Some emphasis on ownership has been replaced by

:25:00.:25:03.

recognition that there needs to be a range of different kinds of housing.

:25:04.:25:09.

That was very good news. I did not hear keeping the capital allowances

:25:10.:25:13.

piece very high for businesses. That is the tax-free amount they can

:25:14.:25:17.

invest in new plant, machinery and processes. He could have gone

:25:18.:25:22.

further. Given we have the downgrade for next year, close to the CBI

:25:23.:25:26.

forecasts that you are facing uncertainty. Businesses are facing

:25:27.:25:30.

higher prices coming through. There was nothing in now for the

:25:31.:25:34.

short-term investment picture. We think the Chancellor should have a

:25:35.:25:40.

watching brief on that. No further cuts to corporation tax. There was

:25:41.:25:45.

chat that if we want the lowest corporation tax in the world and Mr

:25:46.:25:49.

Trump cuts it, we would go lower than 17, which is the aspiration

:25:50.:25:56.

through this Parliament to 15. Izzy your -- do you think it is not

:25:57.:26:02.

uppermost in your minds? Business it would rather the business road map

:26:03.:26:06.

was confirmed and the 17% is confirmed. And not hearing huge

:26:07.:26:09.

calls for it to go lower. We are hearing for some of the investment

:26:10.:26:14.

allowances and incentives to invest on the infrastructure challenges to

:26:15.:26:18.

be to hire up on the left bank Corporation tax. I heard Christian

:26:19.:26:24.

saying the triple lock is saved till 2020 but then we will have to think

:26:25.:26:29.

again. He hinted at that. Given the enormous fiscal consolidation which

:26:30.:26:33.

is pencilled in, that is code for cuts down the line. If there is a

:26:34.:26:37.

serious suggestion they will do that at the same time as telling

:26:38.:26:40.

pensioners we are coming for your perks, I am not sure anyone in

:26:41.:26:44.

government wants to go into an election even if facing Jeremy

:26:45.:26:51.

Corbyn, with those kinds of pledges. Thank you both. Government borrowing

:26:52.:26:55.

costs getting a bit more expensive today as we look to a bleaker fiscal

:26:56.:26:59.

picture going forward. The pound is pretty steady but the city was

:27:00.:27:03.

braced for gloomy economic forecasts and that is what they got.

:27:04.:27:07.

We can get Labour's view on the statement.

:27:08.:27:13.

Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rebecca

:27:14.:27:16.

We carried John McDonnell's critique to the Autumn Statement in full. Do

:27:17.:27:27.

you want to balance the books? Certainly. We would have liked to

:27:28.:27:32.

have seen more certainty from the Chancellor today. He has abandoned

:27:33.:27:37.

George Osborne's suppers rule, which we thought was in achievable but he

:27:38.:27:41.

has not given us a date in terms of bringing down the deficit. We have a

:27:42.:27:47.

fiscal credibility rule. George Osborne is to couple capital

:27:48.:27:53.

expenditure with public spending. We would separate that. You would not

:27:54.:27:57.

need to borrow in terms of public spending. That would come out of tax

:27:58.:28:01.

receipts. Capital expenditure would be kept separate. At the same time,

:28:02.:28:09.

you would bring down the deficit. You are promising to spend a lot

:28:10.:28:13.

more on current spending. You have called for the reversal of the

:28:14.:28:18.

Universal Credit cuts, at least 3 billion. You want much more money

:28:19.:28:24.

for the NHS and full social care. That is a multi-billion current

:28:25.:28:28.

spending as well. There are a number of other areas in welfare you where

:28:29.:28:32.

you want to spend more or restore the cuts that have been made. I

:28:33.:28:35.

don't understand McGivern you're going to add all of that to current

:28:36.:28:40.

spending, when you would balance that. We would not have cut capital

:28:41.:28:48.

gains tax or slashed inheritance tax for the most wealthy in society and

:28:49.:28:53.

expected the most vulnerable in society having to shoulder the

:28:54.:28:59.

burden. In terms of raising further revenue through taxes, we have a tax

:29:00.:29:04.

avoidance transparency programme that we would enforce. How much

:29:05.:29:09.

would that raise? ?5 billion is what the Government intends to recoup.

:29:10.:29:13.

Pundits outside of government estimate anything between 70 billion

:29:14.:29:21.

to 130 billion going out of the country in terms of tax avoidance.

:29:22.:29:25.

We would have to examine that. The problem we have at the moment is the

:29:26.:29:29.

Government is getting back on the resources it has within HMR see. It

:29:30.:29:34.

is cutting the number of offices it has and employees in each

:29:35.:29:37.

department. In order to get an accurate vision on how much money we

:29:38.:29:42.

are using each year, the Government does not have those resources. We

:29:43.:29:46.

would make sure that HMRC was adequately resourced. In terms of

:29:47.:29:52.

increasing tax revenue, we must surely get productivity levels up.

:29:53.:29:57.

The OBR report today at horrific productivity predictions yet again.

:29:58.:30:01.

The title referred to in his speech can match the fact he appreciated

:30:02.:30:05.

there was a productivity problem. Something is not going well for this

:30:06.:30:09.

government. They are not investing in industry infrastructure or

:30:10.:30:12.

creating the high-paid, high skilled jobs of the future which would

:30:13.:30:16.

result in future tax returns for the Government. Why do you want to

:30:17.:30:22.

balance the books? It is fiscally responsible to so do. You cannot

:30:23.:30:25.

pluck money from the money tree. It is responsible for the Government to

:30:26.:30:28.

invest in the future. What other government does it,

:30:29.:30:38.

balance the books around the western world? There are a number of fiscal

:30:39.:30:41.

positions taken by other governments around the world. It's difficult to

:30:42.:30:47.

pinpoint particular governments who have a 0% deficit. Germany. They

:30:48.:30:54.

have had a long-term strategy. As I look at Italy, France, Spain, United

:30:55.:31:01.

States, they are not planning to balance the books. I wondered why...

:31:02.:31:07.

No, it's fiscally responsible to balance the books but can't do it at

:31:08.:31:11.

the expense of not investing in the future and your future

:31:12.:31:12.

infrastructure because you have to balance the books of the same time

:31:13.:31:16.

as ensuring future productivity and tax receipts. What would you do? We

:31:17.:31:21.

would invest in infrastructure on a larger scale. What the Chancellor

:31:22.:31:26.

said today was welcome and some of it is a repeat of what his

:31:27.:31:28.

predecessor had put forward. That takes a long time for infrastructure

:31:29.:31:35.

investment to happen and to have an impact. What would you do to raise

:31:36.:31:39.

it in the next couple of years? There's a large number of shovel

:31:40.:31:43.

ready project in the pipeline and we didn't hear many of those. I've got

:31:44.:31:47.

a massively long list I could e-mail across to you. We've got HS2 which

:31:48.:31:53.

doesn't seem to be progressing. That is not shovel ready. We have got a

:31:54.:31:59.

vast number of them and they are available on the government website.

:32:00.:32:04.

I understand the website is full of infrastructure projects. A lot of

:32:05.:32:10.

them have not been lamented but give me an infrastructure project that is

:32:11.:32:16.

shovel ready. Swansea tidal lagoon. That will take years to plan. It

:32:17.:32:19.

hasn't even got planning permission yet. If you look on the government

:32:20.:32:24.

website, you can see a long list of the shovel ready projects if you are

:32:25.:32:30.

interest to do so. No, the point is this. What I see on the government

:32:31.:32:35.

website, hold on, what I see on the government website is a long list of

:32:36.:32:38.

infrastructure projects, but what I don't see is shovel ready. I will

:32:39.:32:44.

give you an example. HS2 is approved, eight years ago, hardly

:32:45.:32:49.

shovel ready. The diggers turned up last week to begin part of the

:32:50.:32:54.

building but didn't have the right local authority permits and they

:32:55.:32:58.

were sent away and they won't be allowed back until the New Year. It

:32:59.:33:03.

is not shovel ready. I appreciate a number of local issues on particular

:33:04.:33:08.

projects and they need to be addressed as quickly as possible but

:33:09.:33:12.

there's a number of projects if the Chancellor did further investigation

:33:13.:33:15.

on, he would find they were shovel ready. If you look of the government

:33:16.:33:18.

website, there's a long list of those available. I do appreciate

:33:19.:33:23.

there are some affected by local considerations but the point is, the

:33:24.:33:27.

Chancellor has not even touch the side in what we need to secure

:33:28.:33:31.

further productivity increases in this country and it's not just

:33:32.:33:34.

talking about shovel body project but investing in skills and

:33:35.:33:38.

education. We've seen horrific cuts to education in the last few years

:33:39.:33:41.

and we are not making art workforce skilled for the future. Do you buy

:33:42.:33:49.

the OBR's verdict the government will end up borrowing a lot more

:33:50.:33:53.

money because of the impact of Brexit? Does Labour accept that? We

:33:54.:34:00.

are in uncertain times and we've seen chaos on the government so far.

:34:01.:34:05.

In terms of our red Line, we want tariff free access at the least to

:34:06.:34:08.

the single market and I think that's what business is calling for, as

:34:09.:34:11.

well. We have seen nothing to suggest that will be pushed forward

:34:12.:34:14.

by this government coming forward and in terms of borrowing, I

:34:15.:34:17.

couldn't hazard a guess at the amount of money the government would

:34:18.:34:21.

have to borrow in terms of a worsening Brexit situation. The OBR

:34:22.:34:26.

of said there will be ?58 billion extra borrowing they put down to

:34:27.:34:32.

Brexit and that is the biggest fact the OBR forecast today. Do you

:34:33.:34:37.

accept the impact of the economy of our decision? It is a forecast and

:34:38.:34:45.

the caveat about in the report is a forecast dependent on the

:34:46.:34:48.

government's ongoing negotiations. The government can put in place

:34:49.:34:51.

initiatives now to try and alleviate any need to do that. That would be

:34:52.:34:56.

demanding tariff free access to the single market for a start. We just

:34:57.:35:00.

want some certainty going forward and we know we have got certainty on

:35:01.:35:06.

corporation tax. As the CBI mentioned earlier, we just want to

:35:07.:35:08.

see more certainty going forward in terms of what other terms for exit

:35:09.:35:13.

in the EU are going to be. At the very least, some red lines for

:35:14.:35:19.

business. The public finances. Given that if you win in 2020 will be

:35:20.:35:24.

taking over a government where the debt to GDP ratio would be flirting

:35:25.:35:30.

with 90%, do you still think, at that point, the markets and

:35:31.:35:36.

investors in debt would support Labour borrowing more money? I think

:35:37.:35:42.

Mark Carney made a statement not so long ago when he said we rely on our

:35:43.:35:48.

friends overseas, the kindness of strangers. The longer our situation

:35:49.:35:52.

is uncertain, the longer that kindness goes away... I'm wondering,

:35:53.:35:57.

given the downgrading of the public finances by the Office for Budget

:35:58.:36:02.

Responsibility today, do you stick to the notion that the markets would

:36:03.:36:05.

still support a Labour government borrowing more money given that in

:36:06.:36:11.

2020 the public finances are going to be in far worse state than you

:36:12.:36:16.

thought you were going to inherit if you are the election? We really hope

:36:17.:36:21.

they are not and we need to see some business Red Line 's. Do you think

:36:22.:36:26.

you can borrow more? You need to borrow to invest in infrastructure.

:36:27.:36:31.

You think you could borrow more even though the ratio... We would have to

:36:32.:36:34.

assess the public finances at the time you could cut off your arms

:36:35.:36:38.

you'd have to make sure you are securing future productivity for the

:36:39.:36:42.

country but without a crystal ball, but I couldn't make an assessment of

:36:43.:36:45.

the fiscal situation at the time we exit of the EU, but I really do

:36:46.:36:50.

implore the Chancellor to start pushing for tariff free access to

:36:51.:36:53.

the single market because it's imperative. He should also be

:36:54.:36:58.

pushing for the financial passport. Even though we have seen borrowing

:36:59.:37:04.

costs for the government today slowly rising, and inflation risk in

:37:05.:37:07.

particular, do you store think the market will support you borrowing

:37:08.:37:11.

more on top of what the OBR is saying already? As I said, we have

:37:12.:37:17.

do assess the fiscal situation at the time. I would not want us to be

:37:18.:37:20.

in a worsening financial situation and we will be if this government

:37:21.:37:24.

doesn't take strong action in terms of Brexit. We have to assess the

:37:25.:37:28.

financial situation of the time to specify the amounts we would borrow

:37:29.:37:32.

and you are right in what you say, the amount of debt we are inward

:37:33.:37:38.

effect that. Do you want the government to outline its red lines

:37:39.:37:45.

on Brexit? Understandable position. It's the job of the opposition to do

:37:46.:37:50.

that. What is your Red Line? Would you leave membership of the single

:37:51.:37:54.

market? We wouldn't want to leave membership of the single market but

:37:55.:37:57.

we would want tariff free access. You said you wouldn't leave

:37:58.:38:02.

membership of the single market. We wouldn't like to. Whether that's on

:38:03.:38:07.

the card or not, remains to be seen, but we want at least a guarantee

:38:08.:38:10.

from the government they will maintain some degree of access. I

:38:11.:38:16.

understand, that's a question for the government, I understand that. I

:38:17.:38:19.

want to know Labour's position because these matters could be

:38:20.:38:23.

unresolved. You have said that you would want to remain a member of the

:38:24.:38:29.

single market? Our bare minimum is access to a single market, tariff

:38:30.:38:33.

free. Would you be prepared to remain as a member? Whether that's

:38:34.:38:38.

achievable or not is another matter. What about the customs union? Yes,

:38:39.:38:43.

we think it's imperative to remain. You would accept by doing that this

:38:44.:38:46.

country couldn't make its own free-trade deals? Well, I mean, all

:38:47.:38:56.

things are negotiable. We would demand to remain part of a customs

:38:57.:39:00.

union because it would have a detrimental impact. There's no

:39:01.:39:04.

member of the customs union who makes its own free-trade deals, so

:39:05.:39:07.

you would accept that we could not then do free-trade deals with

:39:08.:39:11.

Canada, America, Australia, India? If Labour's policy sticks. Because

:39:12.:39:17.

it hasn't happened so far doesn't mean it might not be able to happen

:39:18.:39:22.

in the future, Andrew. We are in politically uncertain times at the

:39:23.:39:25.

moment and if you are told me we would be out of the EU six months

:39:26.:39:28.

ago I would have laughed. The customs union is quite clear on

:39:29.:39:35.

trade goods. The whole point of being in the customs union is the

:39:36.:39:39.

customs union does that free-trade deals so you can't have both. Do you

:39:40.:39:44.

understand that? We would want to remain part of a customs union and

:39:45.:39:47.

then we'll see what the government puts forward on that. OK, we believe

:39:48.:39:51.

that therefore suffering to very much.

:39:52.:39:52.

Let's go over to Northern Ireland now and our political editor

:39:53.:39:55.

What has been the reaction in Northern Ireland? I think initially

:39:56.:40:02.

welcomed to the increase there's going to be in capital spending on

:40:03.:40:05.

infrastructure because of course that trickles down to the regions

:40:06.:40:10.

like Northern Ireland. We are due over the next four years for a ?250

:40:11.:40:17.

million increase in capital spending on infrastructure and so that will

:40:18.:40:20.

be welcomed by the construction industry locally. And properly by

:40:21.:40:23.

most politicians. This has been an area where there's been a

:40:24.:40:26.

traditional amount of debate about whether we would miss out, not being

:40:27.:40:30.

able to build much-needed road schemes because of Brexit, because

:40:31.:40:34.

the local executive was implying for funding, planning to apply for

:40:35.:40:37.

funding from the European Union in relation to that, so I think over

:40:38.:40:41.

the next few weeks, we are expecting our local budget in the middle of

:40:42.:40:45.

December, to have a debate about what the Chancellor has announced

:40:46.:40:52.

today and whether it plug the gap. Let's go back to College Green.

:40:53.:40:57.

Caroline Lucas from the Green party and Jonathan Edwards from Plaid

:40:58.:41:03.

Cymru. What is your overall reaction, Caroline? At a time when

:41:04.:41:08.

economic times, the country is moving into uncharted waters of

:41:09.:41:11.

levels of insecurity higher than ever before, I was hoping from this

:41:12.:41:16.

Chancellor without more policies to protect my constituents in Brighton

:41:17.:41:20.

much better. We are seeing instead of Chancellor committed to give tax

:41:21.:41:24.

breaks to the richest, to corporations, and is taking away

:41:25.:41:28.

from the poorest in order to spend on that. When you add to that the

:41:29.:41:31.

fact this is a Chancellor who didn't once mention the words climate

:41:32.:41:35.

change, in the year on record as the hottest ever, a year when we know

:41:36.:41:41.

that we absolutely could be investing in energy efficiency,

:41:42.:41:44.

creating jobs, getting emissions down, getting peoples fuel bills

:41:45.:41:48.

down, there was some win-win situations which could of been good

:41:49.:41:51.

for people and the environment and he just blew it. Jonathan, what is

:41:52.:41:57.

the Plaid Cymru V1 this? The mythical Tory long-term plan was

:41:58.:42:02.

shelved in a short-term economic scramble on the back of a declining

:42:03.:42:07.

OBR forecast over five years. It's not as bad news for public finances

:42:08.:42:14.

but in terms of weakening job prospects, especially women look at

:42:15.:42:17.

the inflation forecast. One of the big striking aspects of the

:42:18.:42:22.

statement is there was no indication from the Chancellor on what is

:42:23.:42:25.

position will be in terms of the single market and the customs union

:42:26.:42:29.

going forward. An extra 400 million for the Welsh government in this.

:42:30.:42:35.

Any ideas how you will spend it? We've lost 400 million over five

:42:36.:42:39.

years, of course. It will be spent on renovating Buckingham Palace, and

:42:40.:42:46.

the place behind me, it wasn't a serious fiscal intervention because

:42:47.:42:49.

if you go back to the levels of infrastructure investment prior to

:42:50.:42:57.

the crash in 2008, 1% extra pair and GDP, 20 billion across the UK and a

:42:58.:43:01.

billion per annum for Wales, so the money announced, although welcome,

:43:02.:43:05.

isn't a serious economic intention. Philip Hammond confirmed the

:43:06.:43:12.

starting rate, 40% tax break, would rise by 2020 up to 50,000. John

:43:13.:43:17.

McDonnell from Labour has backed that. The Green party is opposed to

:43:18.:43:22.

that. A lot of people who would benefit are not rich, moderately

:43:23.:43:29.

affluent at most. Teachers, police officers, other public sector

:43:30.:43:33.

workers. Why would you be against them getting a fairer deal? I'm

:43:34.:43:38.

against it because it's essentially being paid for by some of the

:43:39.:43:41.

poorest people, who are seeing changes on Universal Credit but not

:43:42.:43:50.

going to help them. Is being paid for off the backs of the poorest

:43:51.:43:54.

people and that's why we are objecting to it. Essentially, this

:43:55.:43:57.

is a budget yet again for the more wealthy in spite of the fact only a

:43:58.:44:01.

few months ago Theresa May were standing on the doorstep of Downing

:44:02.:44:04.

Street promising as this was going to be a budget and a country under

:44:05.:44:09.

government putting some of the poorest working class people at its

:44:10.:44:11.

heart. This budget demonstrates that was a myth. Caroline Lucas and

:44:12.:44:17.

Jonathan Edwards, thank you very much for joining us from College

:44:18.:44:27.

Green. I want to go to Kamal full so we should get an international

:44:28.:44:31.

context. The government fiscal politician in this country is

:44:32.:44:33.

listening, but we are not alone. The US budget deficit ended on October

:44:34.:44:41.

the 1st, it is up 36% year-on-year. The French budget deficit is rising.

:44:42.:44:46.

The commission has said to the Spanish and Portuguese, we will not

:44:47.:44:51.

penalised you even though you are not sticking to the Maastricht

:44:52.:44:56.

rules. The Italian budget deficit is in some trouble. Could be in more

:44:57.:45:01.

trouble in a couple of weeks. I would suggest what Mr Hammond has

:45:02.:45:07.

done, intentional or not, he's moving with the flow with fiscal

:45:08.:45:10.

policy is once again taking centre stage?

:45:11.:45:16.

I think the issue for Philip Hammond will be, do the markets believe, is

:45:17.:45:23.

invest in our debt, that the position he is outlining is

:45:24.:45:29.

sustainable? At 90%, many economists judge that a 90% debt to GDP ratio,

:45:30.:45:34.

that sustainability issue is questionable. Why can the Italians

:45:35.:45:42.

borrow under 2%? They do not have the same financial city issues we

:45:43.:45:48.

have. They have not spent the amounts of money we have two rescue

:45:49.:45:55.

our banks. Governments generally are in a pretty benign situation at the

:45:56.:46:01.

moment. The big issue is the interest being charged on all

:46:02.:46:06.

government debt, in the next five years, will rise. We spend over ?30

:46:07.:46:12.

billion a year servicing our debt. That is why it matters. You asked

:46:13.:46:19.

Labour, why does it matter about balancing the books? I was surprised

:46:20.:46:22.

you didn't say, you need to balance the books or bring in a surplus to

:46:23.:46:26.

bring debt stands you can spend less money servicing the debt and spend

:46:27.:46:33.

money on schools. That is why fiscal discipline is important for this

:46:34.:46:39.

government. If those interest rates start to rise as inflation risk

:46:40.:46:45.

start to rise and premiums start to rise, the costs go up and up and up.

:46:46.:46:49.

Mat ads to your borrowing and creates an economic problem for you

:46:50.:46:56.

as a government. -- that adds to your borrowing. Yes, you are right.

:46:57.:47:01.

In these benign times, fiscal policy can take more of the weight of the

:47:02.:47:06.

problem. The issue is that economies are not performing well enough to

:47:07.:47:11.

create wealth for people across all the income spectrum. It is becoming

:47:12.:47:17.

more expensive for governments to borrow Billy across the western

:47:18.:47:22.

world now. The British government is finding that out and now the man

:47:23.:47:26.

government as well. Let's go back to Joe coe born -- JoCo in Portsmouth.

:47:27.:47:40.

I'm here with the guys working in the racing catamaran. They are

:47:41.:47:46.

putting the finishing touches to this vote, making it watertight and

:47:47.:47:50.

ready to hit the waters around the media for the America's Cup next

:47:51.:47:54.

spring. While they are busy working here in Portsmouth, Philip Hammond

:47:55.:47:58.

says he is worried about productivity levels generally across

:47:59.:48:02.

the UK. We are behind France, Germany and the US. Many British

:48:03.:48:06.

people are working longer hours for not very much pain. He confirmed the

:48:07.:48:10.

announcement that the National Living Wage would go up from ?7 20

:48:11.:48:20.

to ?7.50 an hour. That is, of course, may be good news for some of

:48:21.:48:24.

your employees. How will it impact to you? It has gone up 80p, which is

:48:25.:48:31.

a lot considering our profit has still outweigh that of the staff

:48:32.:48:36.

costs. We are employing anyone from 25 plus at ?7.50. One of two things

:48:37.:48:46.

will happen. Our wage bill will keep increasing and we will employ young

:48:47.:48:51.

people. So, you will need to make up the costs. Will you put prices up to

:48:52.:48:57.

your customers? No. That is one thing I will try my best not to do.

:48:58.:49:02.

Even though we are currently playing a 5% to 12% increase already on our

:49:03.:49:08.

imports... You have already experienced higher prices you are

:49:09.:49:16.

having to pay. Up to 12%. When did that stop happening? About two

:49:17.:49:20.

months ago. Higher prices of feeding three. There are warnings of higher

:49:21.:49:24.

inflation down the line. How will you make the balancing act happen?

:49:25.:49:32.

It will be hard. I intend to stock from local suppliers make sure we

:49:33.:49:35.

are getting the best prices possible. What are you most worried

:49:36.:49:42.

about going forward as a small business? That the Government will

:49:43.:49:48.

push for changes and not imply them. They will not see what we are

:49:49.:49:53.

struggling with. It is tough now and you are worrying it will get more

:49:54.:49:57.

difficult in the future. You are not the only business in Portsmouth. To

:49:58.:50:01.

get a broader view of other businesses in the area and right

:50:02.:50:03.

across the county on the south coast, let's speak to Mr Dunne from

:50:04.:50:08.

the Chambers of commerce. What do you make of the statement today? It

:50:09.:50:14.

seems solid and reliable and much expected statement. It is when you

:50:15.:50:18.

delve down into the detail and we have got to see a lot of that yet.

:50:19.:50:23.

It is about what it means for Hampshire and the. Whilst we welcome

:50:24.:50:29.

am obviously, infrastructure and digital instructor at that, there

:50:30.:50:32.

are questions as to whether some of that funding will be going. --

:50:33.:50:37.

infrastructure. How badly is that needed? Infrastructure in the south

:50:38.:50:44.

is creaking in terms of rail network and the East - West connection

:50:45.:50:48.

between Portsmouth and Southampton. They are in a desperate state of

:50:49.:50:53.

affairs. If that were improved, it would bring traffic off the M25 on.

:50:54.:50:59.

Do you think there has been too much focus on the northern powerhouse? It

:51:00.:51:04.

was the focus of George Osborne and Philip Hammond wants to continue

:51:05.:51:09.

that. Has that been at the expense of areas like Portsmouth and

:51:10.:51:19.

Hampshire? I welcome that for our friends in the north. The Southern

:51:20.:51:24.

powerhouse is generating a lot of money and needs to be supported.

:51:25.:51:29.

That is why the infrastructure in digital, particularly. We have

:51:30.:51:34.

businesses and business parts in Southampton and Portsmouth and they

:51:35.:51:39.

which are reporting unacceptable even slow speeds. That is not a way

:51:40.:51:44.

to boost productivity. Philip Hammond has said he will inject

:51:45.:51:48.

money into the digital infrastructure, into 5G mobile and

:51:49.:51:52.

into some of the road and rail networks. What are some of the other

:51:53.:51:58.

concerns? We would like further clarity on the apprenticeship levy.

:51:59.:52:02.

They're looking at that what it means to them and how it will be

:52:03.:52:08.

implemented. Skills is a huge issue. Everyone is finding it difficult to

:52:09.:52:12.

recruit. We have an ageing workforce will stop we need to make sure that

:52:13.:52:16.

the skills for the future are actually and funded and businesses

:52:17.:52:23.

need support and education needs support. What about skills of people

:52:24.:52:27.

here and skills from people abroad? Are their concerns about what will

:52:28.:52:33.

happen post-Brexit when we leave the EU in terms of people you might be

:52:34.:52:38.

able to employ? There are huge concerns about EU nationals who are

:52:39.:52:42.

here, who are contributing and ensuring we have a skilled

:52:43.:52:47.

workforce. We take them out of the equation and bring in the ageing

:52:48.:52:52.

workforce and record employment and record unemployment in terms of

:52:53.:52:54.

numbers and we have a real cocktail of a problem. Are you optimistic

:52:55.:53:00.

broadly about the future? When you look at growth forecasts, they dip

:53:01.:53:04.

over the next couple of years. Then they pick up again towards 2020.

:53:05.:53:10.

Borrowing will go up and debt will peak around 2018. Are you optimistic

:53:11.:53:14.

than that the Chancellor can balance the books and at the same time allow

:53:15.:53:19.

businesses you know to grow? It was a very good plan. It reflects Brexit

:53:20.:53:28.

and the short-term problems but reflects the long-term opportunities

:53:29.:53:33.

we are seeking to take. I think we could have done more for exporters,

:53:34.:53:36.

first-time exporters, to give incentives. There was the doubling

:53:37.:53:41.

of the allowance on finance but I think we could have done more to

:53:42.:53:46.

actually open up new markets and help the Department of International

:53:47.:53:50.

trade and the overseas Chambers to get out there and open up new

:53:51.:53:54.

markets of innovation, science and technology, where we can actually

:53:55.:54:00.

export these services, these goods, out to other markets. That can only

:54:01.:54:08.

be done to some extent once we have left be you. Do you think those

:54:09.:54:11.

businesses are ready to wait for a period of time until it becomes

:54:12.:54:13.

clearer what the Government's van will be? We can go and export to

:54:14.:54:20.

other areas and we need to get there. That is it from us here in

:54:21.:54:28.

Portsmouth. With that, back to you, Andrew, in the studio.

:54:29.:54:33.

You're just about coming to the end of our coverage. Let's take you

:54:34.:54:40.

through the headlines of Chancellor Hammond's Autumn Statement. The

:54:41.:54:43.

economic forecast the Government debt will peak at just over 90% of

:54:44.:54:48.

GDP in the next financial year. A lot more than was thought in the

:54:49.:54:54.

March budget. There will be ?122 of additional borrowing over the next

:54:55.:54:58.

five years. No sign of being able to get to budget surplus. It will not

:54:59.:55:04.

be reached by 2020. There is no date by which it will be reached at the

:55:05.:55:09.

Government, the OBR, is saying that growth over 2% this year is expected

:55:10.:55:15.

to fall to 1.4% next year. Quite a lot hangs on that particular

:55:16.:55:20.

forecast. Household budgets, the national living rage will rise to

:55:21.:55:25.

?7.50 an hour in April. Fuel duty rise cancelled. That tends to happen

:55:26.:55:29.

in budgets, in the autumn statements. Upfront, letting agency

:55:30.:55:42.

fees are abandoned in England, as they are already in Scotland. The

:55:43.:55:46.

insurance premium tax will increase from 10% to 12% next June. Northern

:55:47.:55:52.

Ireland to receive extra money, Wales extra money and Scotland extra

:55:53.:55:57.

money as well. Another ?1.4 billion to build more affordable homes.

:55:58.:56:01.

Another 1.3 billion to improve transport networks.

:56:02.:56:07.

The Chancellor has given himself more flexibility. He is borrowing

:56:08.:56:14.

more, a lot more than we expected a few months ago full study is looking

:56:15.:56:19.

at a different economic picture. For the Tory government, who had been in

:56:20.:56:23.

charge since 2010, they are looking to basically get a whole decade, ten

:56:24.:56:31.

years, without having been able to complete the Central mission of

:56:32.:56:35.

being able to balance the books. That in itself is quite an

:56:36.:56:40.

extraordinary fact. For Theresa May, with her ambition to help people

:56:41.:56:43.

having a hard time trying to make ends meet, there is really very

:56:44.:56:49.

little in today's they do adds up to a coherent message of some kind of

:56:50.:56:53.

big thing that will really filter through that people will feel as a

:56:54.:56:58.

benefit in their pockets. Neither of those things really, the Chancellor

:56:59.:57:01.

having to deal with a much harder picture and not coming up with

:57:02.:57:05.

measures to tickle the tummies of Middle England. Neither of those

:57:06.:57:08.

credits for the Government. Not the most drastic day but big

:57:09.:57:16.

implications on those things. I will try not to spluttered through your

:57:17.:57:21.

final thoughts. Two words never very comfortable with a Conservative

:57:22.:57:28.

Chancellor, debt up, debt forward. Some not very sexy areas which are

:57:29.:57:33.

vitally important. Productivity and house-building. Philip Hammond has

:57:34.:57:37.

given a nod to that. Transfers over the ages have tried to fix frankly

:57:38.:57:42.

the economic performance of Britain not being strong enough to allow

:57:43.:57:44.

people to increase their wages and to bring wealth to more of those

:57:45.:57:50.

just managing families. The big picture is, 2008 and the financial

:57:51.:57:59.

crisis, we are still paying today. Eight bit like my costs. More than

:58:00.:58:10.

anyone expected in 2008. -- cough. The Government has not been able to

:58:11.:58:17.

fix this. Debt to GDP ratio of 90% is of great concern. Dick Kelly when

:58:18.:58:20.

government borrowing costs will increase over the next five years.

:58:21.:58:26.

Thank you both. We will leave it there. That is it for our coverage

:58:27.:58:32.

of the Autumn Statement. On the day we discover our official forecast

:58:33.:58:36.

does not accept we are heading to recession and growth is continuing

:58:37.:58:39.

and the Government will borrow a lot more. Thank you for joining us.

:58:40.:58:41.

Goodbye. to signify the Africans

:58:42.:59:04.

who were here.

:59:05.:59:09.

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