Live Autumn Statement

:00:00. > :00:00.Government is going to deliver on that. For all their years in

:00:00. > :00:14.Government, the Labour Party did nothing.

:00:15. > :00:24.Statement, the first Secretary of State and Chancellor of the X,

:00:25. > :00:29.Chancellor Philip Hammond. It is a privilege to report today on an

:00:30. > :00:32.economy which the IMF predicts will be the fastest-growing major

:00:33. > :00:38.advanced economy in the world this year. An economy with employment at

:00:39. > :00:42.a record high and unemployment at an 11 year low. An economy which

:00:43. > :00:47.through the hard work of the British people has bounced back from the

:00:48. > :00:53.depths of Labour's Chris Ashton and an economy which has confounded

:00:54. > :00:57.commentators harry and abroad with its strength and resilience since

:00:58. > :01:01.the British people decided exactly five months ago today to leave the

:01:02. > :01:06.European Union and chart a new future for our country. That

:01:07. > :01:11.decision will change the course of Britain's history. It has grown into

:01:12. > :01:15.sharp relief the fundamental strengths of the British economy

:01:16. > :01:22.which will ensure our future success. The global reach of our

:01:23. > :01:25.service industries, the strength of our science and manufacturing base

:01:26. > :01:28.and the cutting-edge British businesses that are leading the

:01:29. > :01:32.world in disruptive technologies. But it's a decision which also makes

:01:33. > :01:37.more urgent than ever the need to tackle our economy's long-term

:01:38. > :01:41.weaknesses, like the productivity gap, the Housing challenge and the

:01:42. > :01:48.damaging economic growth and prosperity across our country. Mr

:01:49. > :01:54.Speaker, we resolved today to confront those challenges head on,

:01:55. > :01:57.to prepare our country to seize the opportunities ahead and, in doing

:01:58. > :02:05.so, to build an economy which works for everyone, an economy where every

:02:06. > :02:10.corner of this United Kingdom is part of our national success. Mr

:02:11. > :02:19.Speaker, I want to pay tribute to my predecessor, my right honourable

:02:20. > :02:24.friend the Member for Tatton. My style, Mr Speaker, will of course be

:02:25. > :02:29.different from his. I suspect that I will prove no more adept at pulling

:02:30. > :02:35.rabbits from hats that my successor as Foreign Secretary has been at

:02:36. > :02:41.retrieving balls from the back of scrums, but my focus on building

:02:42. > :02:46.Britain's long-term future will be the same. He took over an economy on

:02:47. > :02:50.the brink of collapse with the highest budget deficit in our

:02:51. > :02:57.post-war history and brought it down by two thirds. That is a record of

:02:58. > :03:04.which he can be proud. But times have moved on and our task now is to

:03:05. > :03:10.prepare our economy to be resilient as we exited the EU and match fit

:03:11. > :03:15.for the transition that will follow. We will maintain our commitment to

:03:16. > :03:22.fiscal discipline while recognising the need for investment to drive

:03:23. > :03:27.productivity. We also need fiscal headroom to support the economy

:03:28. > :03:34.through the transition. Mr Speaker, let me turn out to the forecasts.

:03:35. > :03:37.Since 2010, the Office for Budget Responsibility has provided an

:03:38. > :03:41.independent economic and fiscal force -- forecast for which the

:03:42. > :03:46.Government must respond. Gone are the days when the Chancellor can

:03:47. > :03:53.mark its own -- his own homework. I thank them for their hard work. His

:03:54. > :04:01.forecast is for great to be 2.1% in 2016, higher than forecast in March.

:04:02. > :04:09.The OBE are forecast for 2017 is 1.4%, which they think is driven by

:04:10. > :04:15.uncertainty and higher inflation debate -- resulting from sterling

:04:16. > :04:21.depreciation. That is slower, of course, and we would wish, but still

:04:22. > :04:27.equivalent to the IMF's predictions for Germany and higher than many of

:04:28. > :04:31.our European neighbours, including France and Italy, a fact that will

:04:32. > :04:38.no doubt be a source of considerable irritation to some. As the effects

:04:39. > :04:49.of uncertainty diminished, the OBE are forecasts recovery to 1.7% in

:04:50. > :05:01.2018, 1.9% in 2020 and two point 0% in 2021. The OBR's current view is

:05:02. > :05:04.that given the Brexit decision, growth is likely to be 2.4

:05:05. > :05:11.percentage points lower than would otherwise have been the case. The

:05:12. > :05:16.OBR acknowledges there is a higher degree of uncertainty around these

:05:17. > :05:21.figures than usual. Despite slower growth, the UK Labour market is

:05:22. > :05:27.forecast to remain robust. We have delivered over 2.7 million new jobs

:05:28. > :05:33.since 2010 and this forecast shows this number is growing in every

:05:34. > :05:36.year. Another 500,000 jobs created over the OBE are forecast, providing

:05:37. > :05:43.security for working people across the length and breadth of Britain.

:05:44. > :05:46.For those who claim that the recovery is just the south-east

:05:47. > :05:51.phenomenon in, I have some news. Over the past year, employment grew

:05:52. > :05:56.fastest in the north-east, the claimant count fell fastest in

:05:57. > :06:01.Northern Ireland, pay grew most strongly in the West Midlands and

:06:02. > :06:06.every UK nation and region saw a record number of people in work.

:06:07. > :06:18.That, Mr Speaker, is the Labour market recovery that is working for

:06:19. > :06:23.everyone. Monetary policy has played an important part but a credible

:06:24. > :06:29.fiscal policy is essential to insuring we return to long-term

:06:30. > :06:34.health financially. In the face of slower growth

:06:35. > :06:40.forecasts, we no longer seek to deliver a surplus in 2019, 2020, but

:06:41. > :06:48.the Prime Minister and I remain firmly committed to seeing the

:06:49. > :06:56.public finances returning to balance as soon as practicable while leaving

:06:57. > :07:03.enough flexibility... While leaving enough flexibility to support the

:07:04. > :07:09.economy in the near term. Today, I am publishing a new draft charter

:07:10. > :07:13.for budget responsibility with three fiscal rules. First, the public

:07:14. > :07:21.finances should be returned to balance as early as possible in the

:07:22. > :07:25.next Parliament and in the interim, in the interim, Mr Speaker, so

:07:26. > :07:26.quickly adjusted borrowing should be below 2% by the end of this

:07:27. > :07:34.Parliament. Second, that public sector net debt

:07:35. > :07:38.as a percentage of GDP must be falling by the end of this

:07:39. > :07:42.Parliament and third that welfare spending must be within a cap set by

:07:43. > :07:45.the government and monitored by the obi are.

:07:46. > :07:48.In the absence of an effective framework, the welfare bill in our

:07:49. > :07:52.country spiralled out of control with spending on working age

:07:53. > :07:57.benefits trebling in real terms between 1980 and 2010. As a result

:07:58. > :08:01.of the action that we have taken since 2010 that spending has now

:08:02. > :08:04.stabilised and the car I am announcing today takes into account

:08:05. > :08:10.the policy changes made since the last budget setting a realistic

:08:11. > :08:14.baseline reflecting all and end welfare policies and I confirm again

:08:15. > :08:18.today that the government has no plans to introduce further welfare

:08:19. > :08:25.savings measures in this Parliament beyond those already announced.

:08:26. > :08:29.I now turn Mr Speaker to the obi are's the school forecast but first

:08:30. > :08:33.I will set out the key drivers of change since the budget. The post by

:08:34. > :08:38.the changes made to welfare and housing policies cost the Exchequer

:08:39. > :08:41.?8.6 billion over the forecast period.

:08:42. > :08:46.Expected or N S classification changes have added ?12 billion since

:08:47. > :08:51.budget. In tax receipts have been lower than expected this year,

:08:52. > :08:55.causing the obi are to revise down projected revenues in future. Added

:08:56. > :09:01.to this is a structural effect of rapidly rising incorporation in

:09:02. > :09:06.self-employment which for erodes revenues. Combining these pressures

:09:07. > :09:10.with the impact of forecast weaker growth and taking account of the

:09:11. > :09:15.measures I shall announce today, the OBR now forecasts that in cash terms

:09:16. > :09:30.doubling is set to be ?16.2 billion this year, falling to ?59 billion

:09:31. > :09:38.next year, 46.5 billion in 18-19 and ?27 billion, and finally

:09:39. > :09:43.21,000,000,020 1-22. Overall net borrowing as a percentage of GDP

:09:44. > :09:48.will fall from 4% last year to 3.5% this year and will continue to fall

:09:49. > :09:54.over the parliament reaching 0.7% in 2122. This will be the lowest

:09:55. > :10:00.deficit as a share of GDP in two decades. The OBR expects cyclically

:10:01. > :10:07.adjusted public sector net borrowing to be 0.8% of GDP in 2020 - 21,

:10:08. > :10:14.comfortable admitting our target to reduce it to less than 2% and

:10:15. > :10:21.leaving significant flexibility to respond to any headwinds the economy

:10:22. > :10:24.may encounter. The OBR's forecasts of higher borrowing and for asset

:10:25. > :10:28.sales together with the temporary effect of the Bank of England action

:10:29. > :10:34.to stem the growth translates into an increased forecast for debt in

:10:35. > :10:45.the near term. The OBR's forecasts say that it will rise to it season

:10:46. > :10:47.by 3% this year, peaking at 19.2% in 2017-18 at the Bank of England

:10:48. > :10:56.monetary policy interventions approach the full effect. In 2018-19

:10:57. > :10:59.debt is projected to fall to 89.7% of national income, the first fall

:11:00. > :11:03.in the national debt as a share of GDP since 2001-2002 and it is

:11:04. > :11:11.forecast to continue following the laughter. Members of the house may

:11:12. > :11:16.be interested that following the stripping out of the Bank of England

:11:17. > :11:24.interventions, the underlying peaks are 82.4% of GDP and false then

:11:25. > :11:29.after 277.7% by 2122. Mr Speaker it is customary in the run-up to the

:11:30. > :11:32.Autumn Statement to hear representations from the Shadow

:11:33. > :11:37.Chancellor of the day, usually for untenable levels of spending and

:11:38. > :11:42.borrowing. We used to think on the side of the house that Ed Balls

:11:43. > :11:47.demands where an extreme example, but I have to say the current Shadow

:11:48. > :11:53.Chancellor has outperformed him in the fiscal incontinence sweepstakes.

:11:54. > :12:04.What we don't do of course is whether he can also dance. I have

:12:05. > :12:11.received... He can? Good. A second career awaits him, Mr Speaker. I

:12:12. > :12:15.have received, Mr Speaker, some more measured representations from a

:12:16. > :12:18.range of external bodies, some of them calling for fiscal expansion

:12:19. > :12:22.while others have suggested that there is no need at all to respond

:12:23. > :12:26.to a changed economic outlook and that reflects to be fair the

:12:27. > :12:31.challenge that we face of resolving how best to protect the recovery,

:12:32. > :12:35.build on the economy is manifest strengths and at the same time

:12:36. > :12:40.respond appropriately to the warnings of a more difficult period

:12:41. > :12:46.ahead. Without debt forecast to peak at over 90% next year and the

:12:47. > :12:52.deficit of 3.5%, I have reached my own judgment. It is a judgment based

:12:53. > :12:56.on a sober analysis of our fiscal position but also a realistic

:12:57. > :13:00.appraisal of the weakness of the UK productivity and the urgent need to

:13:01. > :13:05.address our fiscal challenge from both ends. Continuing to control

:13:06. > :13:11.public expenditure, but also growing the potential of the economy and

:13:12. > :13:15.protecting the taxpayers. We choose in this Autumn Statement to

:13:16. > :13:19.prioritise additional high-value investment, specifically in

:13:20. > :13:26.infrastructure and innovation that will directly contribute to raising

:13:27. > :13:30.Britain's productivity. And the key judgment we make today Mr Speaker is

:13:31. > :13:36.that our hard-won credibility on public spending means that we can

:13:37. > :13:42.fund this commitment in the short-term from additional borrowing

:13:43. > :13:46.while funding all other new policies announced in this Autumn Statement

:13:47. > :13:50.through additional tax and spending measures. That is the responsible

:13:51. > :13:56.way to secure our economy for the long-term. The productivity gap is

:13:57. > :13:59.well known to honourable and right Honourable members but shocking

:14:00. > :14:05.nonetheless. If there's repeating. We like the US and Germany by some

:14:06. > :14:10.30 percentage points in productivity. But we also like

:14:11. > :14:17.France by over 20 points, and Italy by eight points. Which means the

:14:18. > :14:23.real it takes a German worker for days to produce what we make in

:14:24. > :14:28.five. And that means in town that too many British workers work longer

:14:29. > :14:32.hours for lower pay than their counterparts and that has to change

:14:33. > :14:38.if we are to build an economy that works for everyone. Raising

:14:39. > :14:43.productivity Mr Speaker is essential for the high skill economy that will

:14:44. > :14:49.deliver higher living standards for working people across this country.

:14:50. > :14:53.As a result of decisions taken by my predecessor, public investment is

:14:54. > :14:58.higher over this decade than it was over the whole of the period of the

:14:59. > :15:02.last Labour government. But today I can go further. I can announce that

:15:03. > :15:08.we are forming a new national productivity investment fund of ?23

:15:09. > :15:14.billion to be spent on innovation and infrastructure over the next

:15:15. > :15:20.five years. Investing today for the economy of the future. Let me set

:15:21. > :15:26.out Mr Speaker for the house how this money will be used. We do not

:15:27. > :15:30.invest enough in research, development and innovation. As the

:15:31. > :15:35.pace of technology advances and competition from the rest of the

:15:36. > :15:39.world increases we must build on our strengths in science and tech

:15:40. > :15:42.innovation to ensure that the next generation of discoveries is not

:15:43. > :15:47.only made here but it is also developed and produced in Britain.

:15:48. > :15:52.So today I can confirm the additional investment in research

:15:53. > :15:55.and development rising to the next 2 billion per year by 2021 and now

:15:56. > :16:00.spun right honourable friend the Prime Minister on Monday. Mr Speaker

:16:01. > :16:05.economically productive infrastructure directly benefits

:16:06. > :16:10.businesses but families, too, rely on roads rail telecoms and

:16:11. > :16:14.especially housing. We have made good process of the number of new

:16:15. > :16:17.homes being built last year getting an eight-year high but for too many

:16:18. > :16:23.the goal of homeownership remains out of reach. In October my right

:16:24. > :16:27.honourable friend the community secretary launched the ?3 billion

:16:28. > :16:32.home-builders fund to unlock over 200,000 homes and up to 2 billion to

:16:33. > :16:38.accelerate construction on public sector land. But we must go further

:16:39. > :16:42.still. The challenge of delivering the housing we so desperately need

:16:43. > :16:47.in the places where it is currently based affordable is not of course a

:16:48. > :16:52.new one. But the effect of unaffordable housing on our nation's

:16:53. > :16:55.productivity makes it an urgent one. My right honourable friend the

:16:56. > :17:00.community secretary will bring forward a housing white paper in due

:17:01. > :17:05.course addressing these challenges but in the meantime we can take

:17:06. > :17:09.further steps. One of the biggest objections to housing development as

:17:10. > :17:15.honourable and right Honourable members will know from the

:17:16. > :17:17.constituencies, is often the impact on local infrastructure. We will

:17:18. > :17:22.focus government infrastructure investments to unlock land for

:17:23. > :17:28.housing with a new ?2.3 billion housing infrastructure fund to

:17:29. > :17:34.deliver infrastructure for up to 100,000 new homes in areas of high

:17:35. > :17:37.demand. And to provide affordable housing that supports a wide range

:17:38. > :17:43.of needs, we will invest a further 1.4 billion to deliver 40,000

:17:44. > :17:49.additional affordable homes. And I will also relax restrictions on

:17:50. > :17:54.government grants to allow providers to deliver a wider range of housing

:17:55. > :17:58.types. I can also announce a large-scale regional pilot of Right

:17:59. > :18:05.to buy for housing association tenants and continued support for

:18:06. > :18:10.home ownership through the Help To Buy scheme equity loan scheme and

:18:11. > :18:13.the Help To Buy scheme. This package means that over the course of this

:18:14. > :18:19.Parliament the government expects to more than double in real terms

:18:20. > :18:23.annual capital spending on housing. Coupled with a resolve to tackle the

:18:24. > :18:28.long-term challenges of land supply, this commitment to housing delivery

:18:29. > :18:32.represents a step change in our ambition to increase the supply of

:18:33. > :18:40.homes for sale and for rent, to deliver a housing market that works

:18:41. > :18:44.for everyone. Reliable transport networks are essential to growth and

:18:45. > :18:46.productivity, so this Autumn Statement commits significant

:18:47. > :18:52.additional funding to help keep Britain moving, now and to invest in

:18:53. > :18:59.the transport networks and vehicles of the future. I will commit an

:19:00. > :19:01.additional ?1.1 billion in investment in English local

:19:02. > :19:08.transport networks were small investments can offer big wins. ?220

:19:09. > :19:14.million additionally to address traffic pinch points are strategic

:19:15. > :19:18.roads, 450 million to trial digital signalling on a real ways to achieve

:19:19. > :19:21.a step change in reliability and to squeeze more capacity out of our

:19:22. > :19:28.existing rail infrastructure, something I know the Leader of the

:19:29. > :19:33.Opposition will welcome and finally Mr Speaker ?390 million to build on

:19:34. > :19:39.our competitive advantage in low emission vehicles and the

:19:40. > :19:43.development of connected autonomous vehicles. Plus a first-year capital

:19:44. > :19:49.allowance for the installation of electric vehicle charging

:19:50. > :19:51.infrastructure. The Department for Transport will work with transport

:19:52. > :19:55.for north to develop detailed options for the northern Powerhouse

:19:56. > :19:59.rail and my right honourable friend the Transport Secretary will set out

:20:00. > :20:03.more details of projects and priorities over the coming weeks.

:20:04. > :20:08.Our future transport business and lifestyle needs will require

:20:09. > :20:12.world-class digital infrastructure to underpin them. My ambition, it

:20:13. > :20:35.says here because I wrote it here, so my .Mac my ambition, Mr Speaker,

:20:36. > :20:39.is for the UK to be a world leader in five GE. That means a full fibre

:20:40. > :20:46.network, a step change in speed to security and reliability so we will

:20:47. > :20:50.invest over ?1 billion in a digital infrastructure to capitalise private

:20:51. > :20:57.investment in fibre networks and to support five G trials. And from

:20:58. > :21:01.April we will introduce 100% business rates relief for a

:21:02. > :21:06.five-year period on new fibre infrastructure, supporting further

:21:07. > :21:10.roll-out of five to homes and businesses. We have chosen Mr

:21:11. > :21:15.Speaker to Bordeaux to kick-start a transformation in infrastructure and

:21:16. > :21:20.innovation. But we must sustain this effort over the long term if we are

:21:21. > :21:25.to make a lasting difference to the UK's productivity performance so

:21:26. > :21:27.today I have written to the national infrastructure commission to ask

:21:28. > :21:30.them to make the recommendations in the future infrastructure needs of

:21:31. > :21:35.the country using the assumption that the government will invest

:21:36. > :21:40.between 1% and 1.2% of GDP every year from 2020 in economic

:21:41. > :21:45.infrastructure covered by the commission. To put that in context,

:21:46. > :21:53.we will spend around 0.8% of GDP on the same definition this year. I am

:21:54. > :21:56.also backing the commission's interim recommendations on the

:21:57. > :22:01.Oxford Cambridge to growth corridor published last week. With ?110

:22:02. > :22:04.million of funding for east-west rail and the commitment to deliver

:22:05. > :22:09.the new Oxford to Cambridge Expressway. This project can be more

:22:10. > :22:13.than just a transport link, it can become a transformational tech

:22:14. > :22:20.corridor drawing on the world-class research strengths of our two

:22:21. > :22:24.best-known universities. I welcome the commission's continuing work on

:22:25. > :22:26.delivery model options and we will carefully consider its final

:22:27. > :22:37.recommendations in due course. The major increase in infrastructure

:22:38. > :22:41.spending I've announced today will be a significant increase in funding

:22:42. > :22:49.through the Barnett formula of over ?250 million to the Northern Ireland

:22:50. > :22:55.Executive, ?400 million to the worst executive and ?800 million to the

:22:56. > :23:04.Scottish Government. -- to the Welsh executive. I'm sure he will in a

:23:05. > :23:09.moment. Mr Speaker, public investment is only part of the

:23:10. > :23:15.picture. About half of our economic infrastructure is financed by the

:23:16. > :23:21.privates that -- private sector and we will continue to support that and

:23:22. > :23:25.I am extending that scheme until 2026. The new capital investment I

:23:26. > :23:29.have announced will provide the financial backbone for the

:23:30. > :23:34.Government's financial strategy they Government -- the Prime Minister

:23:35. > :23:38.spoke about on Monday. Built on a firm foundation, the Business

:23:39. > :23:42.Secretary will work with industry to build our ambition of an economy

:23:43. > :23:47.that works for all. I can announce for further messages to back

:23:48. > :23:54.business. I am doubling the UK export capacity to make it easier

:23:55. > :23:57.for businesses to export, I'm funding the boosting of management

:23:58. > :24:03.skills across British businesses and I'm taking the first step to tackle

:24:04. > :24:06.the long-standing problem of our fastest-growing start-up tech firms

:24:07. > :24:12.being snapped up by bigger companies rather than growing to scale by

:24:13. > :24:16.injecting an initial ?400 million into venture capital funds through

:24:17. > :24:21.the British business bank, unlocking ?1 billion of new finance for

:24:22. > :24:26.growing firms. I'm also launching today a Treasury led review of the

:24:27. > :24:31.barriers to accessing patient capital in the UK so that we can

:24:32. > :24:34.take further action to address them. Mr Speaker, this Government

:24:35. > :24:39.recognises that for too long, economic growth in our country has

:24:40. > :24:44.been too concentrated in London and the south-east. That is not just a

:24:45. > :24:49.social problem, it's an economic problem. London is one of the

:24:50. > :24:54.highest productivity cities in the world and we should celebrate that

:24:55. > :24:59.fact. But no other major developed economy has such a gap between the

:25:00. > :25:04.productivity of its capital city and its second and third cities, so we

:25:05. > :25:08.must drive up the performance of our regional cities. Today, we publish

:25:09. > :25:12.our strategy for addressing productivity barriers in the

:25:13. > :25:15.Northern powerhouse and give the go-ahead to a programme of major

:25:16. > :25:21.road schemes in the north. Our Midlands engine scheme. -- will

:25:22. > :25:24.follow shortly but I am today providing funding so that the

:25:25. > :25:30.evaluation study for the Midlands rail hub can go ahead. In addition,

:25:31. > :25:33.we are investing in local infrastructure in every region of

:25:34. > :25:38.England. I can announce the allocation of ?1.8 billion from the

:25:39. > :25:41.local growth fund to the English regions, by the hundred and ?56

:25:42. > :25:45.million to local enterprise partnerships in the north of

:25:46. > :25:51.England, 514 times million pounds to the north of England and ?683

:25:52. > :26:00.million to let in the south-east, south-west London. We will announce

:26:01. > :26:05.the breakdown of those shortly. Devolution, Mr Speaker, remained at

:26:06. > :26:08.the heart of this Government's commitment to supporting local

:26:09. > :26:13.growth and we be committed a two hour city deals with Swansea,

:26:14. > :26:19.Edinburgh, North Wales and te cities. I can announce today that we

:26:20. > :26:23.are beginning discussions on a city deal with Sterling so that every

:26:24. > :26:28.city in Scotland will be on course to have a city deal. To support new

:26:29. > :26:34.Mayoral combined authorities in England, I can announce that we will

:26:35. > :26:37.grant them new borrowing powers to reflect their new responsibilities

:26:38. > :26:42.and while we continue discussions with London and the West Midlands on

:26:43. > :26:47.possible devolution further powers, I can announce today that London

:26:48. > :26:55.will receive ?3.5 billion as its share of national affordable housing

:26:56. > :27:00.funding to give its share and we are also devolving the adult education

:27:01. > :27:06.budget and giving London extra control over employment support

:27:07. > :27:08.services for the hardest to help. I have deliberately avoided making

:27:09. > :27:22.this statement into a long list of individual projects being supported.

:27:23. > :27:29.But... But I am going to make one exception. I will add today with

:27:30. > :27:34.just seven days to spare to save one of the UK's most important historic

:27:35. > :27:39.houses, Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham. It's said to be the

:27:40. > :27:45.inspiration for Camberley in Jane Austen's pride and prejudice but in

:27:46. > :27:50.1946, in an extraordinary act of cultural vandalism, the then Labour

:27:51. > :27:53.Government authorised extensive opencast coal-mining virtually out

:27:54. > :28:01.to the front door of this precious property. Perhaps that's Labour's

:28:02. > :28:04.idea of a northern powerhouse. Wentworth Woodhouse is now at a

:28:05. > :28:13.critical risk of being lost to future... Order. It sounds very

:28:14. > :28:17.interesting indeed. Wentworth Woodhouse is now at critical risk of

:28:18. > :28:22.being lost to future generations. A local effort has been hugely

:28:23. > :28:26.successful in securing millions of pounds in funding from various

:28:27. > :28:31.foundations and charities, subject to the ballots required to make the

:28:32. > :28:38.House safe being found by November the 30th. So, we will today provide

:28:39. > :28:42.a ?7.6 million grant towards urgent repairs to safeguard this key piece

:28:43. > :28:44.of Northern Heritage, all but destroyed by a Labour Government,

:28:45. > :29:06.saved by a Conservative one. I can also, Mr Speaker, I can also,

:29:07. > :29:14.Mr Speaker, confirm distribution of a further ?102 million of libel bank

:29:15. > :29:22.binds to Armed Forces and emergency services charities, including ?20

:29:23. > :29:27.million to support the defence and National rehabilitation Centre at

:29:28. > :29:32.Stanford Hall in Nottinghamshire as well as ?3 million from the tampon

:29:33. > :29:38.tax fund for comic relief to distribute to a range of women's

:29:39. > :29:40.charities. Mr Speaker, we choose to invest in our economic

:29:41. > :29:45.infrastructure because it can transform the growth potential of

:29:46. > :29:49.our economy as well as improving the quality of people's lives. That

:29:50. > :29:53.investment is only possible because we on this side of the House are

:29:54. > :29:59.prepared to take the tough decisions to maintain control of current

:30:00. > :30:10.spending. Of them opposed by the party opposite. When we take office

:30:11. > :30:16.in 2010, public spending was 45% of GDP. This year, it is set to be 40%.

:30:17. > :30:21.In those years, we have seen crime fall by a court, the highest

:30:22. > :30:25.proportion ever of good or outstanding schools, the number of

:30:26. > :30:30.doctors has increased by 10,000 in our NHS, pensioner poverty at the

:30:31. > :30:33.lowest level ever, the lowest ever number of children being raised in

:30:34. > :30:38.workless households and the highest ever number of children going on to

:30:39. > :30:41.study full-time in university. We have demonstrated beyond doubt that

:30:42. > :30:47.controlling public spending is Campath is ill with world-class --

:30:48. > :30:54.is compatible with world-class services and social improvement. As

:30:55. > :31:00.the OBR's projections demonstrate, we have more work to do to eliminate

:31:01. > :31:05.the deficit. Departmental surfing -- spending plans set out last autumn

:31:06. > :31:11.will remain in place and departmental expenditure in 21, 22

:31:12. > :31:14.will grow in line with inflation. The ?3.5 billion of savings to be

:31:15. > :31:18.delivered through the efficiency review announced that the budget and

:31:19. > :31:24.led by my right honourable friend the Chief secretary must be

:31:25. > :31:27.delivered in full. I have, however, exceptionally agreed to provide

:31:28. > :31:32.additional funding to the Ministry of Justice to tackle urgent prison

:31:33. > :31:42.safety issues, increasing the number of prison officers by 20,000 500. --

:31:43. > :31:50.by 2500. Having run to large spending departments in my previous

:31:51. > :31:53.roles, I came in with a clear understanding of the relationship

:31:54. > :31:56.between spending departments and the Treasury. I want departments to be

:31:57. > :32:00.as advised to drive spending efficiencies and I want the Treasury

:32:01. > :32:04.to be an enabler for good, effective spending across Government. To kick

:32:05. > :32:08.start this new approach, I will allow up to ?1 billion of the

:32:09. > :32:14.savings found by the efficiency review to be reinvested in 1920 in

:32:15. > :32:21.priority areas and I have budgeted today accordingly. Mr Speaker, we

:32:22. > :32:26.manage public spending so that we can invest in the public's

:32:27. > :32:29.priorities and this Government has underlined these priorities with a

:32:30. > :32:33.series of commitments and protections for the duration of this

:32:34. > :32:40.Parliament. I can confirm today that despite the fiscal pressure, we will

:32:41. > :32:44.meet our commitments to protect the budgets of key public services and

:32:45. > :32:47.events, we will keep our profit -- promised to the world's poorest

:32:48. > :32:51.through our overseas aid budget and we will meet our pledge to our

:32:52. > :32:55.country's pensioners through the triple lock. As we look ahead to the

:32:56. > :33:01.next Parliament, we will need to ensure that we tackle the challenges

:33:02. > :33:05.of rising longevity and fiscal stability. The Government will

:33:06. > :33:12.review public spending priorities and other commitments for the next

:33:13. > :33:16.Parliament in light of the evolving situation at the next spending

:33:17. > :33:21.review. I now turn to taxation. Since 2010, this Government has put

:33:22. > :33:27.a business led recovery at the heart of our plan. We've cut corporation

:33:28. > :33:33.tax from 28% to 20%, sending the message that Britain is open for

:33:34. > :33:35.business. The additional investment in productivity and infrastructure

:33:36. > :33:39.that I have announced today underscores that message and the

:33:40. > :33:46.raft of investments in the UK announced since the referendum by

:33:47. > :33:52.Softbank, Glaxo, Apple and Nissan among others confirms it. My

:33:53. > :33:54.priority as Chancellor is to ensure that Government -- Britain remains

:33:55. > :34:00.the number one destination for business, creating the investment,

:34:01. > :34:05.jobs and prosperity to protect our long-term future. I know how much

:34:06. > :34:09.business value certainty and stability and so I confirmed today

:34:10. > :34:17.that we will stick to the business tax road map that we set out in

:34:18. > :34:23.March. Corporation tax will fall to 17%, by far the lowest rate in the

:34:24. > :34:31.A20. We will deliver the commitments we have made to the oil and gas

:34:32. > :34:35.sector, and we will implement the business rates reduction package

:34:36. > :34:40.worth ?6.7 billion. I can also confirmed today that having

:34:41. > :34:41.consulted further, my right honourable and the Communities

:34:42. > :34:53.Secretary will lower the transitional relief cap from 45%

:34:54. > :35:03.next year to 43% and from that to 32% the next year. That's

:35:04. > :35:12.complicated but it's good news. Just in case anybody wasn't sure, Mr

:35:13. > :35:21.Speaker. I will also increase the ruble rate relief to 100%, giving

:35:22. > :35:28.small businesses in rural areas and tax break worth up to ?2900 a year.

:35:29. > :35:33.In return for these highly competitive tax rates, the tax base

:35:34. > :35:40.must be sustainable. From April 2017, we will align the employee and

:35:41. > :35:45.employer national insurance threshold to ?157 per week. There

:35:46. > :35:53.will be no cost to employees and the maximum cost of business will be an

:35:54. > :35:56.annual ?7.18 per employee. Insurance premium tax in this country is lower

:35:57. > :36:02.than in many other European countries and half the rate of VAT.

:36:03. > :36:05.In order to raise revenue, which is required to fund the spending

:36:06. > :36:12.commitments I am making today, it will rise from 10% currently to 12%

:36:13. > :36:16.from next June. At the same time, I can confirm that the Government's

:36:17. > :36:21.commitment to legislate next year to end the compensation culture

:36:22. > :36:29.surrounding whiplash claims, a major order -- area of insurance fraud,

:36:30. > :36:32.saving drivers an average of ?40 on their annual premiums. Technological

:36:33. > :36:37.progress is changing the way people live and the way they work. The tax

:36:38. > :36:44.system needs to keep pace. For example, the OBE are -- the OBR has

:36:45. > :36:49.highlighted today the growing cost of incorporation. The Government

:36:50. > :36:53.will look at how we can ensure that the different ways of taxation are

:36:54. > :36:58.fair between different individuals doing the same sort of work,

:36:59. > :37:03.sustaining the tax base as the economy undergoes rapid change. We

:37:04. > :37:07.will consult in due course on any proposed changes. In the meantime,

:37:08. > :37:11.the Government will take action now to reduce the difference between the

:37:12. > :37:16.treatment of cash earnings and benefits. The majority of employees

:37:17. > :37:21.pay tax on a cash salary but some are able to sacrifice salary by

:37:22. > :37:28.agreement with their employer and pay much lower tax on benefits in

:37:29. > :37:32.kind. This is unfair and so from April 2017, employers and employees

:37:33. > :37:36.who use these schemes will pay the same taxes as everyone else.

:37:37. > :37:45.Following consultations with stakeholders, ultra-low emission

:37:46. > :37:53.cars, pension savings, childcare and the cycle to work scheme will be

:37:54. > :37:58.excluded from this change. Certain long-term arrangements will be

:37:59. > :38:04.protected until April 20 21. For pensions that have been drawn down,

:38:05. > :38:09.I will reduced to ?4000 the money purchase annual allowance to prevent

:38:10. > :38:16.inappropriate double actually been gained. This government has done

:38:17. > :38:25.more than any other to tackle tax evasion, avoidance and aggressive

:38:26. > :38:31.tax evasion and the UK tax gap is now one of the lowest in the world.

:38:32. > :38:35.But we must constantly be alert to new threats to our tax base and be

:38:36. > :38:40.willing to move swiftly to counter them. At the budget we committed to

:38:41. > :38:44.removing the tax benefits of disguise the earnings for employees

:38:45. > :38:50.and I am now going to do the same for the self-employed and employers

:38:51. > :38:55.raising a further ?630 million over the forecast period. We will shut

:38:56. > :39:01.down inappropriate use of the VAT flat rate scheme that was put in

:39:02. > :39:05.place to help small businesses, we will abolish the tax advantages

:39:06. > :39:09.links to employee shareholder status in response to growing evidence that

:39:10. > :39:12.it is being primarily used for tax planning purposes by high earning

:39:13. > :39:16.individuals and we will introduce a new penalty for those who enable the

:39:17. > :39:23.use of a tax avoidance scheme that HMRC later challenges and defeats.

:39:24. > :39:27.These measures and other set out in the Autumn Statement document raise

:39:28. > :39:33.around ?2 billion over the forecast period. Mr Speaker that is

:39:34. > :39:38.understandable public concern that the pitch is tilted in favour of

:39:39. > :39:43.large multinational groups which are able to use cross-border structures

:39:44. > :39:47.to manage their tax liabilities. Following detailed consultation I

:39:48. > :39:51.can confirm that we will implement our new restriction on tax relief

:39:52. > :39:54.for corporate interest expenses and reform the way that relief is

:39:55. > :40:00.provided for historic losses. These measures scored at budget 2016 will

:40:01. > :40:05.ensure a large businesses will always pay tax in years where they

:40:06. > :40:10.make substantial profits. It will also mean that businesses cannot

:40:11. > :40:16.avoid tax by borrowing excessively in the UK to fund the overseas

:40:17. > :40:26.activities. They will raise over 5 billion from the businesses in the

:40:27. > :40:30.UK. I said the tax system should be fair and that means awarding people

:40:31. > :40:34.who work hard by letting them keep more of what they earn. That is one

:40:35. > :40:37.tax rate reform that this covenant has pursued since 2010 that has done

:40:38. > :40:43.more than any other to improve the lot of working people, raising the

:40:44. > :40:52.tax-free personal allowance. When we entered government in 2010 it was

:40:53. > :40:58.?6,475, now after six years it is ?11,000 and will rise to ?11,500 in

:40:59. > :41:02.April. As a result, we have more than half the tax bill of someone

:41:03. > :41:10.with a salary of ?15,000 to just ?800. That is a massive boost to the

:41:11. > :41:18.incomes of low and middle earners. Since 2010, we have cut income tax

:41:19. > :41:23.for 20 million people and taking 4 million people out of income tax

:41:24. > :41:29.altogether. I can confirm today that despite the challenging fiscal

:41:30. > :41:33.forecasts we will deliver on our commitment to raising the allowance

:41:34. > :41:40.to ?12,500 and the higher rate thresholds to ?50,000 by the end of

:41:41. > :41:44.this Parliament. Once that ?12,500 has been reached Mr Speaker and

:41:45. > :41:49.personal allowance will rise automatically during the 20 20s in

:41:50. > :41:53.rise -- in line with inflation rather than the national minimum

:41:54. > :41:57.wage as currently planned. It will be for the Chancellor to decide from

:41:58. > :42:02.year to year whether Moore is now available -- affordable. As well as

:42:03. > :42:05.taking millions of ordinary people out of tax we have the government

:42:06. > :42:12.introduced the national minimum wage, and give a pay rise Mr Speaker

:42:13. > :42:17.to over 1 million workers. They don't like it, a Tory government

:42:18. > :42:25.gave a pay rise to over a million of the lowest paid workers. We are the

:42:26. > :42:27.government who introduced 15 hours a week of free childcare for all three

:42:28. > :42:32.and four-year-olds that will double that for working families from

:42:33. > :42:36.September. The government whose education reforms have raised

:42:37. > :42:41.standards and expanded opportunities with 1.4 million more children now

:42:42. > :42:44.in good or outstanding schools, and the new capital funding I have

:42:45. > :42:51.provided today for grammar schools will help to continue that trend.

:42:52. > :42:54.And we Mr Speaker other government that pledged to invest in the NHS

:42:55. > :42:59.and we are delivering on that promise. Lacking the NHS five-year

:43:00. > :43:07.forward you plan for the future with ?10 billion of additional funding by

:43:08. > :43:12.the end of 2020 - 2021. We recognise that more needs to be done to help

:43:13. > :43:17.families make ends meet and to ensure that every household has

:43:18. > :43:22.opportunities to prosper. So today I can announce that the national

:43:23. > :43:30.living wage will increase from ?7 20 to ?7 50 in April next year. That is

:43:31. > :43:37.a pay rise worth over ?500 a year to a full-time worker. Treating dogs

:43:38. > :43:46.and lowering taxes and raising wages addresses directly the concerns of

:43:47. > :43:53.ordinary families and the measures I have and is enable me to go further

:43:54. > :44:00.to help families on low wages. Universal credit is an important

:44:01. > :44:05.reform to our benefit system Anderson -- designed to ensure that

:44:06. > :44:10.working always pays. We want to reinforce that position and I have

:44:11. > :44:17.considered the arguments made by several honourable friends and we'd

:44:18. > :44:23.then carefully against the fiscal constraints we are facing. I have

:44:24. > :44:31.concluded that from April we can reduce the universal credit from 75%

:44:32. > :44:40.to 63%. This is a targeted tax cuts worth ?700 million per year by

:44:41. > :44:42.21-22. For those in work on low incomes. It will increase the

:44:43. > :44:47.incentive to work and encourage progression in work and it will help

:44:48. > :44:56.3 million households across the country. We believe that a market

:44:57. > :45:00.economy is the best way of delivering sustained prosperity for

:45:01. > :45:05.the British people. We will always support a market led approach but we

:45:06. > :45:09.will not be afraid to intervene where there is evidence of market

:45:10. > :45:15.failure. We will look carefully over the coming months at the functioning

:45:16. > :45:17.of key markets including the retail energy market, to make sure they are

:45:18. > :45:23.functioning fairly for all consumers. And in the private rental

:45:24. > :45:31.market letting agents are currently able to charge unregulated fees to

:45:32. > :45:35.tenants. We have seen these fees spiral despite attempts to regulate

:45:36. > :45:41.them, often to hundreds of pounds. This is wrong, landlords about

:45:42. > :45:44.letting agents and landlords should meet the fees. So I can announce

:45:45. > :45:52.today that we will ban fees to tenants as soon as possible and also

:45:53. > :45:57.we will consult on how best to ban pensions cold calling and the wider

:45:58. > :46:01.range of pension scams. We can also help today and those who rely on

:46:02. > :46:07.income from modest savings to get by. Low interest rates have helped

:46:08. > :46:09.the economy recover but they have significantly reduced the interest

:46:10. > :46:18.people can earn on their cash savings. We will launch a new market

:46:19. > :46:22.leading savings bond through in SLI. The detail will be an asset the

:46:23. > :46:26.budget but we expect our new bond will have an interest rate of around

:46:27. > :46:32.2.2% gross and a terrible three years. Savers can deposit up to

:46:33. > :46:39.?3000 and we expect them to million people to benefit. The announcement

:46:40. > :46:47.I have made is today lower taxes on working people, boost wages, back

:46:48. > :46:50.savings in the bearer on bills. In early 2017 we will begin the

:46:51. > :46:56.roll-out of tax free childcare across Britain, providing a saving

:46:57. > :47:01.of up to ?2000 per child. Once it is rolled out we pledge to keep it

:47:02. > :47:05.under review to ensure that it is indeed still think what they need --

:47:06. > :47:09.the support they need to working families. This one for the area of

:47:10. > :47:15.household expenditure where the government can help. The oil price

:47:16. > :47:20.has risen by over 60% since January. In sterling has declined by 15%

:47:21. > :47:26.against the dollar. That means of course significant pressure on

:47:27. > :47:30.prices at the pumps here in Britain. Today we stand on the side of

:47:31. > :47:34.millions of hard-working people in our country by cancelling the fuel

:47:35. > :47:44.duty rise for the seventh successive year. In total this saves the

:47:45. > :47:52.average car driver ?130 a year and the average fan driver ?350 a year.

:47:53. > :47:56.This is a tax cut worth ?850 million. Next year. I mean the

:47:57. > :48:03.current fuel duty frees is the longest for 40 years. Mr Speaker I

:48:04. > :48:11.have one further announcements to make. This is my first Autumn

:48:12. > :48:15.Statement as Chancellor. After careful consideration, and details

:48:16. > :48:22.discussion with the Prime Minister, I have decided that it will also be

:48:23. > :48:33.my last. Mr Speaker, I am abolishing the Autumn Statement. No other major

:48:34. > :48:39.economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year and neither

:48:40. > :48:45.should we. So the spring budget in a few months will be the final spring

:48:46. > :48:50.budget. Starting in autumn 2017 Britain will have an autumn budget

:48:51. > :48:55.announcing tax changes well in advance of the start of the tax

:48:56. > :49:00.year. From 2018 there will be a spring statement responding to the

:49:01. > :49:23.forecast... Last low perhaps they should have

:49:24. > :49:27.read the briefing Mr Speaker. Goal what a great state of the motion,

:49:28. > :49:31.some people are easily cured. We must hear the Chancellor. Perhaps

:49:32. > :49:36.they should have read the briefing, because they might remember that

:49:37. > :49:40.Parliament has mandated the Office for Budget Responsibility to produce

:49:41. > :49:46.a report to Parliament twice a year and has mandated the government to

:49:47. > :49:50.reply to it. So from 2018 there will be a spring statement responding to

:49:51. > :49:55.the forecast for the Adobe are but no major fiscal event. If unexpected

:49:56. > :49:59.changes in the economy required it then I will of course reserve the

:50:00. > :50:05.right to announce actions at the spring statement but I will not make

:50:06. > :50:11.significant changes twice a year just for the sake of it. This change

:50:12. > :50:19.will allow for greater Parliamentary scrutiny of budget measure ahead of

:50:20. > :50:23.the application. This is a long overdue reform to our tax policy

:50:24. > :50:28.making process and brings the UK into line with best practice

:50:29. > :50:36.recommended by the IMF, the ISS, visited the government and many

:50:37. > :50:39.others. Mr Speaker of the OBR report today confirms the underlying

:50:40. > :50:45.strength and resilience of the British economy. This Autumn

:50:46. > :50:50.Statement response to the challenge of building on that strength while

:50:51. > :50:55.also heeding the warnings in the ten Mac's figures as we begin writing

:50:56. > :51:00.this new chapter in our country's yesterday. It restates the

:51:01. > :51:08.commitment to living within our means and it sets out our choice to

:51:09. > :51:12.invest in our future. It sends a message to the world that Britain is

:51:13. > :51:17.open for business and provide help to those who need it now. So Mr

:51:18. > :51:24.Speaker we have made the choices, we have set her course. We are a great

:51:25. > :51:30.nation. Bold in our vision and confident in our strengths and

:51:31. > :51:38.determined in our ambition to build a country that works for everyone. I

:51:39. > :51:49.commend the statement to the house. John McDonald. This morning Mr

:51:50. > :52:01.Speaker, this morning we have heard the verdict from the trial following

:52:02. > :52:04.the tragic murder of Jo Cox. This house was robbed of a fierce

:52:05. > :52:08.advocate for social justice and a passionate campaigner. Her killing

:52:09. > :52:14.was an attack on democracy itself. Our thoughts are with her family

:52:15. > :52:23.this morning. Mr Speaker, today's statement places on record the

:52:24. > :52:28.abject failure of the last six wasted years and offers no hope for

:52:29. > :52:35.the future. The figures speak for themselves. Growth down. Wage

:52:36. > :52:44.growth, down. Business investment, down. And the deficit, and the

:52:45. > :52:47.deficit... And they owned deficit target field. The debt target

:52:48. > :53:05.failed. The welfare cap, failed. If members on either side want to

:53:06. > :53:10.shout out, don't bother to stand, because you will not be called. I

:53:11. > :53:22.say it to members on both sides, stop it. It is juvenile, low-grade

:53:23. > :53:32.and hugely deprecated by the public to support we should be looking to

:53:33. > :53:36.gain, not destroyed. The verdict here could not be clearer. The

:53:37. > :53:42.so-called long-term economic plan has failed. As the Treasury's own

:53:43. > :53:49.leaked paper showed, the Government knew it had failed even before via

:53:50. > :53:54.announced it. We now face Brexit and we face it unprepared and

:53:55. > :53:59.ill-equipped. The new Chancellor acknowledged the failure himself in

:54:00. > :54:05.October when he promised a reset of economic policy. So, today, we

:54:06. > :54:12.expected a change of direction after those six wasted years. Instead,

:54:13. > :54:16.we've seen further cuts to earnings through cuts to Universal Credit and

:54:17. > :54:20.a living wage increase which is lower than expected under the

:54:21. > :54:24.previous Chancellor. This is a new Conservative leader 's job and no

:54:25. > :54:28.answers to the challenges facing our country following Brexit and no

:54:29. > :54:34.vision to secure our future prosperity. Turning to Brexit,

:54:35. > :54:40.Labour respects the decision of the British people to leave the European

:54:41. > :54:53.Union but the yet chaotic --, chaotic handling of it is very

:54:54. > :54:56.concerning for this country. The Chancellor and the Treasury know

:54:57. > :55:02.that full access to the single market will give the best chance of

:55:03. > :55:07.prosperity here. In the national interest, I urge the Chancellor to

:55:08. > :55:12.stand up to the Prime Minister and the extreme Brexit fanatics in her

:55:13. > :55:16.Cabinet. If he stands up for British businesses and jobs in fighting for

:55:17. > :55:23.single market access, he will have our full support. After six wasted

:55:24. > :55:31.years, wages are still lower than 2008. Self-employed people, self

:55:32. > :55:35.employed people are on average paid less than a generation ago. 6

:55:36. > :55:40.million people are earning less than the living wage. Too many people are

:55:41. > :55:45.having to worry about buying school uniforms, affording a family holiday

:55:46. > :55:50.or even just paying the rent or mortgage. We have had a month of

:55:51. > :55:55.briefing from the party opposite on those people who are called just

:55:56. > :56:01.about managing, the Jams. To the party opposite, these people are

:56:02. > :56:04.just an electoral demographics. To us, they are our friends, our

:56:05. > :56:15.neighbours and the people we represent. Let me tell you what, why

:56:16. > :56:20.they are just managing. It's the results of Tories imposing austerity

:56:21. > :56:26.on an economy that couldn't bear the strain. We've seen productivity

:56:27. > :56:31.stagnate. There's nothing in this Autumn Statement on the scale needed

:56:32. > :56:34.to overturn those six wasted years. If the Chancellor really wants to

:56:35. > :56:39.make a fair tax system as well, he can start by bringing back the VDP

:56:40. > :56:46.rate by the very richest -- for the very richest in this country. It is

:56:47. > :56:51.familiar hollow rhetoric by the Tories on tax avoidance when they

:56:52. > :56:56.have cut the resources at HMRC, the very people started to collect the

:56:57. > :57:05.taxes themselves. The resources available to HMRC today are 40 that

:57:06. > :57:09.-- 40% less than they were in 2000. The Chancellor has frozen in work

:57:10. > :57:13.benefits when food prices are rising and we don't expect wages to keep

:57:14. > :57:18.up. We need an economy that is fundamentally more prosperous and

:57:19. > :57:22.where that prosperity is, yes, it is shared by all. The increase in the

:57:23. > :57:26.national living wage today is lower than expected and leaves the poorest

:57:27. > :57:31.paid workers still earning less than they need to live on. So, I asked

:57:32. > :57:37.the Chancellor to adopt a real living wage level, as Labour has

:57:38. > :57:42.pledged to do, and abandon his predecessor's empty rhetoric.

:57:43. > :57:46.Regrettably, the Chancellor is still going ahead with some of the cuts to

:57:47. > :57:49.Universal Credit. Thanks to the pressure, and I pay tribute to the

:57:50. > :57:53.MPs on all sides of the House who have campaigned on this issue,

:57:54. > :57:58.thanks to that pressure he is offering to soften the blow. We do

:57:59. > :58:04.not want the blow softened, we wanted lifted altogether. Today's

:58:05. > :58:08.changes will lead a single parent on average at least ?2300 worse off.

:58:09. > :58:12.These are the very people working hard to deliver for their families

:58:13. > :58:20.and the Government is betraying them. As for the people with

:58:21. > :58:23.disabilities put through the ordeal of the discredited work capability

:58:24. > :58:28.assessment who are trying to get themselves ready to return to work,

:58:29. > :58:34.just about managing, they still remain in the Chancellor's firing

:58:35. > :58:39.line, cutting ?30 a week from the support that these disabled people

:58:40. > :58:47.received. It is scandalous in our society. Those who are just about

:58:48. > :58:57.managing also rely upon our public services. They send their children

:58:58. > :59:01.to public schools, they depend on their local hospital, the council

:59:02. > :59:05.services like cleaning the streets, tending to be parks and playgrounds

:59:06. > :59:11.and opening the libraries, but the reality is that after six wasted

:59:12. > :59:17.years, our public services are not working. Today, the childcare that

:59:18. > :59:20.people rely upon remains underfunded as the accounts committee has

:59:21. > :59:24.reported and it will remain underfunded even after the

:59:25. > :59:29.announcements today. I want to pay tribute as well to the honourable

:59:30. > :59:33.members for Swansea and tends the for their important work on bringing

:59:34. > :59:39.the important issue of child burial fees to the public awareness and I

:59:40. > :59:44.asked the Government to do the right thing and child burial fees and ask

:59:45. > :59:52.them to make funding available to families in these desperate

:59:53. > :59:55.circumstances. Councillors from all political parties -- councils from

:59:56. > :00:00.all political parties are reporting that they are at a tipping point in

:00:01. > :00:03.the provision of social care. The previous Chancellor cut nearly ?5

:00:04. > :00:09.billion from social care meaning that over one million people who

:00:10. > :00:14.need care are not getting it. They are not even just about managing and

:00:15. > :00:20.they have got little help today. We call for additional support for

:00:21. > :00:26.social care. But the funding being provided today is only a stopgap

:00:27. > :00:30.measure. Our social care system will not be secured without long-term

:00:31. > :00:34.funding. Tonight, many elderly people will remain trapped in their

:00:35. > :00:41.homes, isolated and lonely, lacking the care they need because of this

:00:42. > :00:48.continuing cuts to social care. You can't cut social care without also

:00:49. > :00:52.hitting the NHS. The suppose it 10 billion funding allocated is a

:00:53. > :00:57.restatement of an earlier commitment. But the Health Select

:00:58. > :01:01.Committee described this 10 billion pound claim as, and I quote,

:01:02. > :01:09.misleading and incorrect. The real amount is less than halved that

:01:10. > :01:14.claimed. The result, we now have 3.9 million people on NHS waiting lists,

:01:15. > :01:19.more than ever. Many of those 3.9 million people are waiting in pain

:01:20. > :01:27.and they have got no relief today. No relief today. Across the country,

:01:28. > :01:30.hospitals are facing losing their accident and emergency units, losing

:01:31. > :01:36.their maternity units and losing their specialist units. This Tory

:01:37. > :01:40.Government is failing patients and also failing the dedicated NHS staff

:01:41. > :01:47.that serve us so well. This is the first time health care spending per

:01:48. > :01:53.head has declined since the NHS was created. I fear there will be a

:01:54. > :02:02.crisis in funding and care over this Christmas. The NHS cares for us. We

:02:03. > :02:05.should care for the NHS. On educating, members of this

:02:06. > :02:15.Government have also overseen the biggest real term cuts in education

:02:16. > :02:19.for four decades. ?1 in every ?7 has been cut from college budgets and

:02:20. > :02:24.Conservative policy has saddled a generation of students with a

:02:25. > :02:28.lifetime of debt. How can a Government seriously talk about

:02:29. > :02:33.supporting a 21st-century economy when they are planning to pour tens

:02:34. > :02:37.of millions into the failed 20th-century policy of grammar

:02:38. > :02:43.schools? Segregating our children at an early age. On housing, the

:02:44. > :02:48.Chancellor has announced today that here's scrapping pay to stay

:02:49. > :02:52.proposals and letting agents fees. This U-turn is a victory for

:02:53. > :02:57.Labour's campaign against both the tenant tax and letting fees. The

:02:58. > :03:02.Chancellor has spoken before of the dream of home ownership for the

:03:03. > :03:07.young. Nothing announced today is of the scale needed to suggest it will

:03:08. > :03:11.remain anything other than a dream. The hard facts are these. The

:03:12. > :03:18.Government of which he was a member build fewer homes than at any point

:03:19. > :03:22.since the 1920s. They are now -- there are now a third of a million

:03:23. > :03:26.fewer homeowners under 25. The Chancellor today could have

:03:27. > :03:31.delivered the scale of investment required to build the homes we need

:03:32. > :03:38.and create a new generation of home ownership. He significantly failed.

:03:39. > :03:41.I am grateful that as a result of the campaign from the honourable

:03:42. > :03:49.member for Wentworth and Dean that the Wentwood Woodhouse building will

:03:50. > :03:52.be saved. The accusation was that a Labour Government opened an open

:03:53. > :04:04.post mine near it and threatened it. That was the Labour Government I

:04:05. > :04:12.believe in 1947. I just wish, I just wish some of the policies pursued

:04:13. > :04:17.from Tory -- by Tory governments since then could be reversed so

:04:18. > :04:21.easily. The Chancellor has failed to address properly this Government's

:04:22. > :04:27.most consistent shortcoming. His predecessor cut public investment to

:04:28. > :04:31.the lowest it has been since the 1990s. Instead of delivering the

:04:32. > :04:36.ambitious investment this economy needs across the whole country, the

:04:37. > :04:41.Chancellor failed to recognise the scale of the challenge today. He

:04:42. > :04:46.also risks repeating the mistakes of last year with the national flood

:04:47. > :04:49.resilience programme failing to provide the protection our

:04:50. > :04:56.communities need. Just One in Five of the projects in the investment

:04:57. > :05:01.pipeline are under construction. One in 20 is still delayed. The

:05:02. > :05:08.infrastructure gap between London and the rest remains an abridged.

:05:09. > :05:11.London was scheduled to receive 12 times the public investment per head

:05:12. > :05:20.of the North of England but the 1.1 billion of investment in transport

:05:21. > :05:24.is a re-announcement. The Oxford Cambridgeshire rail line is

:05:25. > :05:30.significantly delayed from the original one of March 20 19. There

:05:31. > :05:34.are no new ideas here. Just a promise to deliver what they have

:05:35. > :05:39.previously failed to deliver on. This is press release policy making

:05:40. > :05:46.and not provision. All we need now is a return of the high viz jacket.

:05:47. > :05:51.The fourth industrial revolution will not be delivered. The fourth

:05:52. > :05:56.industrial revolution will not be delivered on delays, on old news and

:05:57. > :06:01.re-announcements. At last, the Government has realised its mistake

:06:02. > :06:04.and now talks about an industrial strategy, words that ministers

:06:05. > :06:09.refused to even referred to in the past. But it isn't enough just to

:06:10. > :06:14.change the ministerial titles. The Government and the Chancellor need

:06:15. > :06:17.to deliver but we've yet to see the proposed Green paper on industrial

:06:18. > :06:24.strategy that was promised over the summer. The same Government that now

:06:25. > :06:29.talks also about high-tech investment oversaw a ?1 billion cut

:06:30. > :06:32.in real terms to science funding in the last parliament. The OECD

:06:33. > :06:38.recommends that developed countries should spend 3% of GDP on science.

:06:39. > :06:45.What we have heard today is that new spending will lift our expenditure

:06:46. > :06:49.from 1.7% of GDP to a mere 1.8%. It's the same familiar story for

:06:50. > :06:54.business. The Chancellor is continuing the race to the bottom

:06:55. > :06:59.and corporation tax. This is while continuing the cuts to public

:07:00. > :07:05.services, and cutting taxes to big businesses. We know it's not be

:07:06. > :07:08.headline tax rates that encourage long-term investment from big

:07:09. > :07:12.business. Business investment has been revised down every year under

:07:13. > :07:16.this Government. What encourages business investment is knowing they

:07:17. > :07:16.have access to skilled workers, world-class infrastructure and two

:07:17. > :07:27.major markets. The Chancellor admitted over the

:07:28. > :07:32.summer that it was time for a change of course. He has now had to abandon

:07:33. > :07:38.his government's fiscal charter with its field hard surplus target. We

:07:39. > :07:42.were warned that a hard surplus target lacks the flexibility to

:07:43. > :07:47.adapt to economic circumstances and the capacity to allow investment.

:07:48. > :07:50.The Chancellor's U-turn today demonstrates just how right we have

:07:51. > :07:58.been over this last year. In conclusion Mr Speaker only weeks ago

:07:59. > :08:04.the Prime Minister offered the hope of change. The Chancellor offered to

:08:05. > :08:06.reset the economic policy. Today we have seen the very people the Prime

:08:07. > :08:13.Minister promised to champion the trade. The Chancellor has failed to

:08:14. > :08:16.break with economic strategy of austerity, the country remains

:08:17. > :08:20.unprepared and ill-equipped to meet the challenges of Brexit and secure

:08:21. > :08:26.Britain's future as a world leading economy. After all the sacrifices,

:08:27. > :08:32.after all the sacrifices people have made over the past six years I fear

:08:33. > :08:36.today's statement as laid the foundations for more wasted years.

:08:37. > :08:44.Only a Labour government will deliver on the ambition and vision

:08:45. > :08:56.to rebuild and transform our economy so that no one, so that no one and

:08:57. > :09:04.no community is left behind. Can I first associate myself with his

:09:05. > :09:08.remarks about the Jo Cox trial and send my very deepest condolences to

:09:09. > :09:16.the family and her friends who will be suffering again today. Can I also

:09:17. > :09:20.congratulate the right Honourable gentleman on his appointment to the

:09:21. > :09:29.Privy Council. I just wish I could have been there at the investiture.

:09:30. > :09:33.They give you a little red book. I have listened carefully to his

:09:34. > :09:36.response today and his central argument appears to be that the

:09:37. > :09:41.deficit is too high and borrowing is too high. And that is a bit of a

:09:42. > :09:47.problem because as I've understood it his central proposal for our

:09:48. > :09:52.economy is to borrow more and spend more. Indeed under his rule he would

:09:53. > :09:58.always be borrowing in good times as well as bad. His analysis of the

:09:59. > :10:05.problem of the last big government is not expect too much money but to

:10:06. > :10:09.little, indeed his rule has remarkable similarities to Gordon

:10:10. > :10:17.Brown 's golden rule, and we all now where that got us. His big idea is

:10:18. > :10:24.to spend an extra ?500 billion without any idea of how he would pay

:10:25. > :10:32.for it. Just to respond to some of his specific comments, he welcomed

:10:33. > :10:36.the industrial strategy. I am not sure if his welcome is welcome but I

:10:37. > :10:39.would warn him not to government to quickly because it will not look

:10:40. > :10:45.anything like an industrial strategy that would come out of his office.

:10:46. > :10:52.What he has heard today Mr Speaker is a responsible set of decisions,

:10:53. > :10:56.the decision to borrow ?23 billion of tightly targeted investment while

:10:57. > :11:05.paying for every single penny of every other commitment that has been

:11:06. > :11:12.made. He talked about Brexit deadly attacks as over the way we have

:11:13. > :11:15.handled the Brexit process. I do not he has ever been involved in a

:11:16. > :11:23.negotiation, I expect not, but I wouldn't buy ten just to look across

:11:24. > :11:26.the continent for the moment. Look at the Admiral discipline that are

:11:27. > :11:33.negotiating counterparts are displaying in the messaging.

:11:34. > :11:37.Revealing nothing as they prepare to go into this negotiation with us.

:11:38. > :11:40.And I would advise that if we want to get the best possible deal for

:11:41. > :11:50.Britain then we have to keep our cards appropriately close to our

:11:51. > :11:53.chests. He may have heard cuts to people's income from my announcement

:11:54. > :12:00.on universal credit but let me explain how it works to him. When

:12:01. > :12:06.you cut the tape from 65% to 63% you allow people to keep an extra 2% of

:12:07. > :12:10.the income that they are earning. I would have thought that he would

:12:11. > :12:13.have welcomed that. This is all about making tough decisions and I

:12:14. > :12:19.am very happy to debate with the honourable gentleman, but I wish he

:12:20. > :12:21.would be honest enough to accept that you cannot shower money

:12:22. > :12:28.everywhere proposing to spend money on everything without having to

:12:29. > :12:31.raise that money. Either by taxes on ordinary people or by cutting other

:12:32. > :12:37.spending elsewhere. It is simply no good to keep pretending you can just

:12:38. > :12:45.do it by taxing the rich. The top 1% of people in this country already

:12:46. > :12:48.contribute 27% of income tax paid and unfortunately that is not enough

:12:49. > :12:55.of them to be able to finance all the right honourable gentleman 's

:12:56. > :12:58.ambitions. He said that he was disappointed by the announcement of

:12:59. > :13:01.the national living wage. I don't remember perhaps one of my

:13:02. > :13:05.honourable friend could remind me what the level of the national

:13:06. > :13:10.living wage was during the 13 years of Labour's government. And he might

:13:11. > :13:14.note that the level I have announced today is precisely the level

:13:15. > :13:21.recommended by the low pay commission, the body set up to

:13:22. > :13:27.pronounce on these things. I wish he would also be honest when he talks

:13:28. > :13:32.about the work-related activity group in employment and support

:13:33. > :13:36.arrangements. Nobody, and this applies to new claims only as he

:13:37. > :13:44.very well knows, nobody is going to have ?29 a week taken away from

:13:45. > :13:47.them. However many times he says. This is not a stand-alone measure

:13:48. > :13:53.but part of a package, the money that will be saved as being

:13:54. > :13:59.reinvested in a ?330 million package to get these people into work was

:14:00. > :14:03.targeted support to help them be ready for work. He talks about

:14:04. > :14:08.house-building starts, house-building starts were 45% down

:14:09. > :14:13.under the last Labour government. Mr Speaker, he and the Leader of the

:14:14. > :14:17.Opposition have spreads division and disunity through the Labour Party

:14:18. > :14:23.and that is exactly what the spreads to the country if they ever got into

:14:24. > :14:29.government. He says that there are no new ideas. I have to say Mr

:14:30. > :14:34.Speaker that he needs to check the opinion polling because that is not

:14:35. > :14:39.quite what public opinion believes. Instead of carping and opposing

:14:40. > :14:43.every measure that we propose from the side why doesn't he roll up his

:14:44. > :14:53.sleeves, supporters and the hard work of building an economy that

:14:54. > :14:57.works for everyone? May I congratulate the Chancellor on

:14:58. > :15:02.reverting to the extremely sensible practice of only having one budget a

:15:03. > :15:08.year? Would Gordon Brown abandoned in order to try and buy votes twice

:15:09. > :15:17.a year with disastrous consequences. May I congratulate him on easing the

:15:18. > :15:24.taper on the... Tax credit, because it is having distorting effects on

:15:25. > :15:29.the labour market by discouraging part-time workers from working extra

:15:30. > :15:32.hours for example in May I thank him for the money he spent on the very

:15:33. > :15:37.very valuable work for rehabilitating the disabled at

:15:38. > :15:45.Stafford hole in my own constituency? Can he reassure me

:15:46. > :15:50.that he will resist political pressures of all kinds of the coming

:15:51. > :15:56.years to move away from the very sensible fiscal discipline he has

:15:57. > :16:05.set out? Because the major risk to his feet in office would come and

:16:06. > :16:10.affect every section of our society including the Jams that the media

:16:11. > :16:16.have discovered if he is unable to avoid or mitigate the risk that

:16:17. > :16:23.global recession poses to us in the real world. And witty finally

:16:24. > :16:28.confirm that whenever he holds his cards that he will continue inside

:16:29. > :16:36.the government if necessary to spell out economic reality and the

:16:37. > :16:39.long-term benefits this country if he wants to develop a modern

:16:40. > :16:44.competitive economy of retaining the access to our most important market

:16:45. > :16:49.in Europe, by retaining the benefits of the single market and the customs

:16:50. > :16:57.union and that no amount of short-term political pressure should

:16:58. > :17:00.allow him to be deflected from that. Mr Speaker I am grateful to my right

:17:01. > :17:06.honourable and learned friend and I say to him that I lie and delighted

:17:07. > :17:09.that we have been able to lower the taper rates on universal credit

:17:10. > :17:12.because of course it is absolutely in line with the principle that we

:17:13. > :17:17.should be supporting and encouraging people into work, he says that the

:17:18. > :17:20.taper rates discourages people. It is of course a much lower rate of

:17:21. > :17:27.stroll that after the old tax credits system that it replaces. And

:17:28. > :17:32.let me reassure my right honourable friend that I had my right

:17:33. > :17:38.honourable friend the Prime Minister remain absolutely committed to the

:17:39. > :17:43.sound Tory principle that a country is to live within its means. Of

:17:44. > :17:47.course we have to deal with the reality is that the world throws at

:17:48. > :17:51.us, and that is why today I have adopted as an interim measure for

:17:52. > :17:55.the remainder of this Parliament a cyclically adjusted target which

:17:56. > :18:01.will always allow us to respond to any downturn that occurs. I

:18:02. > :18:08.understand the importance of economic reality and I understand as

:18:09. > :18:14.does my right honourable friend the extreme desirability of achieving

:18:15. > :18:19.the very best access to markets in the European for those who produce

:18:20. > :18:23.goods and services. Chi firstly associate myself with

:18:24. > :18:28.the words from the Shadow Chancellor and the Chancellor on the late Jo

:18:29. > :18:31.Cox? And can I also thank the Chancellor on what he said about the

:18:32. > :18:35.city 's deal? I know that is slightly difficult -- slightly

:18:36. > :18:39.different to the words and the Redbook. In his attempt to clamp

:18:40. > :18:43.down on evasion it was disappointing there was no reference made to

:18:44. > :18:46.Scottish Limited partnerships and intense of fairness overall, one

:18:47. > :18:52.would have thought there would have been some reference to the Waspy

:18:53. > :18:56.campaign and the unfairness for those women. However the Chancellor

:18:57. > :19:01.did give us plenty of information today but with no more than a glib

:19:02. > :19:04.reference to being match fit at the beginning and a bit of deflection,

:19:05. > :19:11.very little on the elephant in the room which is Brexit. It is not as

:19:12. > :19:15.the Treasury don't know the consequences will be, their own

:19:16. > :19:21.assessments say that tax yields could be down 66 billion a year

:19:22. > :19:25.after 15 years, GDP down 9.5%, a figure confirmed by the LSC as a

:19:26. > :19:31.result of reduced trade, reducing productivity. That amounts to some

:19:32. > :19:37.sex and a per year per household. So where was the plan to ensure there

:19:38. > :19:41.was no hard Brexit? To maintain access to the single market? Where

:19:42. > :19:46.was the plan to mitigate the loss in tax yield and GDP? A novel he set a

:19:47. > :19:50.considerable amount of bad luck and some of it up to a point about

:19:51. > :19:57.capital investment and research and development, where was the fully

:19:58. > :20:01.developed plan to actually boost productivity? We do not go into this

:20:02. > :20:06.next period in a position of strength. The UK GDP is the

:20:07. > :20:09.Chancellor knows is already approaching being 20% lower than it

:20:10. > :20:16.would have been if we had achieved even need to percent growth rate

:20:17. > :20:24.since 2008. Our argument is that the ability of this and the previous

:20:25. > :20:29.government weakens the recovery. It is an error I fear they are set to

:20:30. > :20:32.repeat again. Growth barely reaches 2% for the forecast period and

:20:33. > :20:38.although he sensibly did not put the date on it, the Chancellor is still

:20:39. > :20:43.targeting a surplus in the economy, perhaps again before recovery has

:20:44. > :20:46.been secured. May I say a few words about the fiscal charter. I am glad

:20:47. > :20:50.he's changed it because the previous permit surplus rule of taking 10

:20:51. > :20:54.billion a year out more than was required to run a balanced economy

:20:55. > :20:59.and cutting 50 billion a year was required to run a balanced budget

:21:00. > :21:07.left us with some terrible consequences. Whereas discretionary

:21:08. > :21:11.consolidation tax rises and cuts to place, the ratio of cuts to tax

:21:12. > :21:16.rises also increased in place the burden of austerity and in arbitrary

:21:17. > :21:23.fiscal target on the back of the pure. It has made the lowest 5%

:21:24. > :21:29.worse off in the richest 10% almost entirely all better off. The

:21:30. > :21:33.government has clearly worked something out and I do welcome the

:21:34. > :21:39.move on the taper but let's be clear, 2p in the pound on the

:21:40. > :21:43.minimum wage it is 14p per hour, it is not a kings ransom and it will

:21:44. > :21:49.not cure poverty. The squeeze has not been lifted the pure, the screw

:21:50. > :21:53.of the welfare cap has not been turned off, this is simply where a

:21:54. > :21:57.brutal regime that like this has simply made a brutal regime slightly

:21:58. > :22:01.less brittle. I am glad he mentioned the actions of the Bank of England,

:22:02. > :22:08.our party very much welcome what the governor has done. An increasing

:22:09. > :22:12.duty, 10 billion available for corporate bond purchases and the

:22:13. > :22:18.best rate and additional term funding to make more cheaper lending

:22:19. > :22:22.for the banks. However, there has been an almost complete absence of a

:22:23. > :22:26.fiscal policy stimulus in order to match the incredible monetary policy

:22:27. > :22:32.activism of the central bank so the key aspect of today's Autumn

:22:33. > :22:37.Statement, and I am also pleased that is the last one given this is

:22:38. > :22:43.now my 25th budget Autumn Statement or prebudget statement, the key part

:22:44. > :22:51.of today's Autumn Statement was the increase of expenditure.

:22:52. > :22:57.Over the forecast period, like-for-like, it amounts to 1.5% of

:22:58. > :23:02.total managed expenditure. It is to be welcomed, it is certainly a break

:23:03. > :23:06.from the recent past, but it can be in the way described as the sort of

:23:07. > :23:12.fiscal stimulus required to match the monetary policy with discipline

:23:13. > :23:15.of the central bank. -- monetary policy discipline. The two aspects

:23:16. > :23:19.you dogs about was an increase in capital investment, I welcome that,

:23:20. > :23:23.and an increase in research and development. Given the research and

:23:24. > :23:27.development description has changed in the green book, as has the

:23:28. > :23:31.description of the UK TI funding and said there would be a doubling of

:23:32. > :23:37.some aspects of support, it is hard to tell precisely what the impact of

:23:38. > :23:42.some of those measures are. I hope that he can tell us, in total, what

:23:43. > :23:49.is the increase in cash terms and percentage terms of support

:23:50. > :23:51.absolutely vital, and what is the overall increase in research and

:23:52. > :23:58.development across the piece and how does he intend to see deployed the

:23:59. > :24:06.?23 billion he described in terms of capital investment. Chancellor of

:24:07. > :24:09.the Exchequer. I am not sure, I may have to consult my right honourable

:24:10. > :24:14.and honourable friends, I'm not sure if that was a thank you not, I think

:24:15. > :24:20.it might have been... LAUGHTER No, no, it wasn't. Mr Speaker, what

:24:21. > :24:23.we have announced today is a significant increase in capital

:24:24. > :24:29.investment and capital investment includes research and development

:24:30. > :24:35.under the ONS definition. Scotland will get ?800 million of that, RND

:24:36. > :24:43.is not monetised, it will be spread across the whole of the UK. --

:24:44. > :24:47.Barnettised. But the other part is Barnettised and Scotland will get

:24:48. > :24:52.?800 million. The economic performance of Scotland also needs

:24:53. > :24:55.attention, Scotland's productivity needs addressing and I very much

:24:56. > :24:59.hope and I am sure that families and businesses across Scotland will very

:25:00. > :25:02.much hope that he can confirm, one of his colleagues can confirm, that

:25:03. > :25:06.the Scottish Government will use this additional funding in the

:25:07. > :25:12.spirit it is being raised for the rest of the United Kingdom to invest

:25:13. > :25:15.in raising the productivity performance of the Scottish economy,

:25:16. > :25:22.I would very much welcome that. He asked about the detailed

:25:23. > :25:26.productivity message. I can assure him that there is no lack of

:25:27. > :25:29.enthusiasm in this government for tackling the productivity challenge.

:25:30. > :25:35.My right honourable friend the Business Secretary, for Treasury and

:25:36. > :25:40.other departments, are involved in a process which will lead to a green

:25:41. > :25:45.paper, allowing us to consult extensively with business and other

:25:46. > :25:50.outside bodies before we firm up exactly how to deliver the strategy.

:25:51. > :25:55.What the house has seen today is ?23 billion of additional investment,

:25:56. > :26:00.alongside ?150 billion already committed to investment in economic

:26:01. > :26:11.infrastructure over the period that will form the backbone for that

:26:12. > :26:15.policy and its delivery. The biggest drag on growth in Scotland, as he

:26:16. > :26:19.knows but may not want to admit, survey after survey shows that the

:26:20. > :26:25.biggest drag on business investment is the continuing threat of a second

:26:26. > :26:28.referendum... SHOUTING Bigger than... He needs to go back

:26:29. > :26:35.and look at the polling day to, bigger than concerns about possible

:26:36. > :26:42.future "Brexit" arrangements, the concern about the second Scottish

:26:43. > :26:46.independence referendum. I just say this to him in response to the

:26:47. > :26:48.specific points, I will be publishing a distributional

:26:49. > :26:53.analysis, I believe it is available in the office now, of the measures

:26:54. > :26:57.that have been announced today, humility of lead of the measures

:26:58. > :27:01.that have been announced throughout the parliament. It will not show the

:27:02. > :27:04.outcome that the honourable gentleman suggested, so perhaps we

:27:05. > :27:08.would like to look at that and then no doubt we can have another

:27:09. > :27:11.exchange on the Treasury questions. The overall package of measures

:27:12. > :27:19.today represents a fiscal loosening of around ?23 billion. I acknowledge

:27:20. > :27:23.that that is a reduction of a plan fiscal tightening, but of course

:27:24. > :27:28.there has to be a fiscal tightening over time, because we are moving to

:27:29. > :27:31.living within our means, with a balanced budget in the next

:27:32. > :27:37.Parliament, and we are not going to be deflected from that intention.

:27:38. > :27:42.Just to go up the confusion, UK TI, the budget of UK TI is now rolled

:27:43. > :27:46.into the budget of the Department for International trade. What I

:27:47. > :27:51.announced in my statement is that the capacity, that is the risk

:27:52. > :27:55.capacity, of UK Export Finance will be doubled, so that it can provide

:27:56. > :28:02.finance for exporters from all over the UK, to sell their goods abroad,

:28:03. > :28:09.on credit. George Osborne. Can I warmly... Can I warmly congratulate

:28:10. > :28:14.my friend and successor, on a strong statement. And an assured delivery.

:28:15. > :28:18.I particularly welcome the additional support for the Northern

:28:19. > :28:21.powerhouse. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility has given

:28:22. > :28:25.us a very sober assessment of the economic and borrowing challenges

:28:26. > :28:28.that Britain faces and the Chancellor is right to keep his

:28:29. > :28:33.powder dry but is also right to adhere to the principles that we

:28:34. > :28:40.control current spending, that we make sure the that work pays and

:28:41. > :28:44.make sure Britain is the best place to attract business, and we have the

:28:45. > :28:49.freest possible trade with key export markets. I support all the

:28:50. > :28:54.things he is doing to deliver on those principles. Chancellor of the

:28:55. > :28:57.Exchequer. I'm extremely grateful to my right honourable friend and he is

:28:58. > :29:02.exactly right, the principles he set out will guide the actions of this

:29:03. > :29:07.government as they should guide the actions of any sensible government

:29:08. > :29:11.as we try to future through the economy in a time of extraordinary

:29:12. > :29:16.change. Not only political change but technological change, we are

:29:17. > :29:20.facing a period of 20 or 30 years in which the way we work, the way we

:29:21. > :29:27.live, the way we do business will change fundamentally, and unless we

:29:28. > :29:30.invest now in infrastructure and science and technology base, in

:29:31. > :29:41.innovation capability, we risk being left behind.

:29:42. > :29:47.I want to welcome the fact that the Chancellor the extent has adopted

:29:48. > :29:52.fiscal rules that his predecessor described as the single biggest risk

:29:53. > :29:56.to economic recovery, those which we proposed in 2015. I want to ask him

:29:57. > :30:00.about Brexit, at the Tory party conference he said that the British

:30:01. > :30:06.people did not vote to become poorer, on page 19, the obi art

:30:07. > :30:09.tells us that ?58 billion of the worst public announces is due to the

:30:10. > :30:15.Brexiteers Asian, is this a salutary warning to us, about the decisions

:30:16. > :30:20.we take in the coming months and years. -- is due to the "Brexit"

:30:21. > :30:25.decision. We must stick as close as possible to our largest trading

:30:26. > :30:29.area, the singles market, and inside and not outside the custom union. --

:30:30. > :30:33.the single market. As I have said many times, I am happy to repeat, no

:30:34. > :30:38.doubt I shall be repeating many times today: it remains our

:30:39. > :30:41.objective to try to get the closest possible trading arrangement that we

:30:42. > :30:46.can with the European Union, the greatest access that we can, for our

:30:47. > :30:52.goods and services to be sold into European markets, after we leave the

:30:53. > :30:57.European Union. The effect that, I think we have two desegregate to an

:30:58. > :30:59.effect, there is going to be a period of uncertainty, as we go

:31:00. > :31:06.through the process of exiting the European Union. And that houses the

:31:07. > :31:10.-- and that has had a dampening effect on business investment, as

:31:11. > :31:14.the obi are has identified. We have also to rise to the challenge of

:31:15. > :31:21.getting ourselves match fit to seize the opportunities this country will

:31:22. > :31:23.have after we complete the process. I urge to think about the longer

:31:24. > :31:27.term challenge as well the short-term. Can I congratulate the

:31:28. > :31:33.Chancellor on delivering a crucial statement for the country, it was a

:31:34. > :31:35.budget in all but name, and I strongly support his decision to

:31:36. > :31:39.make it the first of many autumn budgets. Something that a number of

:31:40. > :31:44.us on the Treasury committee have been pushing for for a while. The

:31:45. > :31:50.statement will provide reassurance and certainty for the whole country.

:31:51. > :31:56.Given that the Education Secretary creates export earnings of ?20

:31:57. > :32:01.billion, that is about the same as the car manufacturing sector, will

:32:02. > :32:03.the Chancellor soon be able to provide colleges and universities

:32:04. > :32:08.with the certainty and reassurance they need that foreign students will

:32:09. > :32:17.not be caught by the hundred thousand migration target? John

:32:18. > :32:21.slobbish Tech. First of all, I am grateful to the Treasury Select

:32:22. > :32:27.Committee member for his remarks. -- Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is

:32:28. > :32:32.very much appreciated, and I do think it is the right way for us to

:32:33. > :32:40.go. On the specific question that he has asked, students are included

:32:41. > :32:44.within the hundred thousand, the tens of thousands target, and I know

:32:45. > :32:49.that my right honourable friend, the Home Secretary, is looking at how

:32:50. > :33:01.best to manage student flows in the interest of what is a very important

:33:02. > :33:04.industry in this country. A few months ago, the Foreign Secretary

:33:05. > :33:10.promised the general public that by now, we would have annexed a week

:33:11. > :33:16.for the National Health Service... -- we would have an extra ?300,000 a

:33:17. > :33:22.week. Growth falling, business investment collection, an extra ?110

:33:23. > :33:31.billion of borrowing of the forecast period, when compared with March.

:33:32. > :33:39.Has he received an apology from the Foreign Secretary or any of them?

:33:40. > :33:42.I'm not responsible for remarks which may or may not have been major

:33:43. > :33:47.in political campaigns, what I will say to him is that the British

:33:48. > :33:52.people have made a decision, to leave the European Union. We must

:33:53. > :33:59.respect that decision, if we are going to make a success of this

:34:00. > :34:02.process, if we are going to ensure the success of the British economy

:34:03. > :34:06.in the future, we must move on from keep having this sterile debate over

:34:07. > :34:09.and over again, we must focus attention on building an economy

:34:10. > :34:13.that is match fit for the future and will enable us to deliver higher

:34:14. > :34:23.living standards as we make our way in the world. Someone much more

:34:24. > :34:28.optimistic about the chances of the British economy in the obi are, and

:34:29. > :34:37.I welcome the forecast for this year, a faster rate of growth now,

:34:38. > :34:41.and may I welcome the forecast that there will be no winter recession,

:34:42. > :34:44.but would he agree that the obi are are probably still quite wrong about

:34:45. > :34:48.2017, their forecast is too low, borrowing forecast for two high, and

:34:49. > :34:54.we will get good access to the single market, once we are out of

:34:55. > :35:00.the year? Well, I very much hope on the last point that my right

:35:01. > :35:03.honourable friend is right, that will be our objective, and I am

:35:04. > :35:10.grateful to him for his implicit confidence in my stewardship. I have

:35:11. > :35:16.two, and I of course, I'm well aware of my right honourable friend's

:35:17. > :35:21.views, they are as always, long-standing and utterly

:35:22. > :35:28.consistent, but it is not my job to opine on the report that the OBE are

:35:29. > :35:33.has made by statute to Parliament. It is my job to respond to it and

:35:34. > :35:38.that is what I have done today, obviously, economic forecasting is

:35:39. > :35:43.not a precise science and directed nice, as would the OBE are, that

:35:44. > :35:47.individual members will have their own views, on the likely future

:35:48. > :35:54.trajectory of the economy, and that is what it is worth mentioning that

:35:55. > :35:57.the OBE are specifically says in its report that there is an unusually

:35:58. > :36:04.high degree of certainty in the forecast it is making because of the

:36:05. > :36:06.unusual circumstances. -- OBR. In a long statement, no mention of the

:36:07. > :36:13.National Health Service. In the first six months so far this year,

:36:14. > :36:21.the deficit is 648 million, four trusts alone, with a deficit of 669

:36:22. > :36:23.million, given the extraordinarily measures that the Department of

:36:24. > :36:27.Health had to go to to balance the budget, in the last financial year,

:36:28. > :36:32.even those projections, what is the Chancellor doing to make sure there

:36:33. > :36:39.is a sustainable future for the National Health Service? Ice Age the

:36:40. > :36:41.honourable lady, I might be a novice at Autumn statements but I'm not

:36:42. > :36:48.such a rookie that I did not mention the NHS, I suggest she checks the

:36:49. > :36:52.Hansard, I very definitely did. -- I suggest to the honourable lady. She

:36:53. > :36:58.talks about a suggested trust deficit of 648 million pounds

:36:59. > :37:02.projected at a point which is four months out from the end of the

:37:03. > :37:07.fiscal year, this is in the context of a budget of ?110 billion, in an

:37:08. > :37:14.NHS that holds a contingency reserve at the centre. My right honourable

:37:15. > :37:25.friend the Health Secretary is well aware of these pressures, they are

:37:26. > :37:27.not particularly unusual, they are being managed inside the NHS and I

:37:28. > :37:38.am keeping and will continue to keep a very close eye on them with

:37:39. > :37:44.Can I congratulate my right honourable friend. Would my right

:37:45. > :37:50.honourable friend agree that it has never been more important for

:37:51. > :37:55.British business to be at the very heart of local enterprise

:37:56. > :37:59.partnerships, great ideas like the Midland Engine and all those

:38:00. > :38:03.infrastructure plans and it is not to be driven by politicians. These

:38:04. > :38:09.projects must be driven by British business. I absolutely agree and I

:38:10. > :38:15.am grateful for her comments. It isn't just that we need business to

:38:16. > :38:19.be engaged at the heart of this process and I passionately believe

:38:20. > :38:23.that is the right way to do it and local enterprise partnerships are a

:38:24. > :38:30.good innovation for delivering that as well as the area specific project

:38:31. > :38:37.organisations. But this is also part of meeting the challenge of regional

:38:38. > :38:41.imbalance which, as I said earlier, isn't just a social problem it is an

:38:42. > :38:45.economic problem. When we looked at our productivity gap with other

:38:46. > :38:50.advanced economies we should look for the things that are different in

:38:51. > :38:57.our country to those comparators and the gap between our capital city and

:38:58. > :39:01.others is one of the defining features of the UK economy. By

:39:02. > :39:05.working with business across the country and in the UK regions,

:39:06. > :39:10.particularly by promoting our regional cities, we can start at

:39:11. > :39:14.last to address this problem. The North of England is crying out for a

:39:15. > :39:19.plan for investment in rail and people will be left asking today,

:39:20. > :39:23.where is it? It is also crying out for investment in social care and

:39:24. > :39:27.quite frankly it is unbelievable that they Chancellor could find no

:39:28. > :39:34.mention of it today. Six years of cuts to coach -- social care have

:39:35. > :39:39.left a record number of elderly left in hospital and an NHS on the brink.

:39:40. > :39:44.With winter facing us, can the Chancellor say more about how he

:39:45. > :39:49.came to the judgment that new grammar schools is a higher priority

:39:50. > :39:55.than the funding of the care of older people? I am a little bit

:39:56. > :39:59.surprised at the right honourable gentleman's, a former chief

:40:00. > :40:03.Secretary, not being able to distinguish between capital and

:40:04. > :40:06.resource because the funding we are talking about fourth at grammar

:40:07. > :40:12.schools is capital spending. I said in the course of my statement that

:40:13. > :40:18.the Department for Transport will continue discussions on Northern

:40:19. > :40:22.Powerhouse rail for transport for the North and make announcements in

:40:23. > :40:28.due course. He asked specifically about social care and members

:40:29. > :40:35.opposite are fond of talking about cuts to social budgets... Local

:40:36. > :40:42.authorities had to manage their buzz it's -- budgets as they think best.

:40:43. > :40:48.They have two manage the envelope of resource they are given. What we

:40:49. > :40:54.have done is created a better care than that, by the end of this

:40:55. > :40:58.Parliament, will deliver ?1.5 billion per year into social care,

:40:59. > :41:03.we have allowed local authorities to raise a social care precept which

:41:04. > :41:08.will deliver another ?2 billion a year by the end of this Parliament.

:41:09. > :41:12.Though that is additional funding into the social care system. What I

:41:13. > :41:17.would say to the honourable gentleman is this, I accept there is

:41:18. > :41:24.an issue that local authorities are raising, and we have heard what they

:41:25. > :41:34.say the, about the profiling of how this large amount of money ramps up.

:41:35. > :41:41.That is an issue might friends are aware of and are discussing. Thank

:41:42. > :41:46.you. The Care Quality Commission has warned that social care is at a

:41:47. > :41:50.tipping point and vulnerable people across the country are being left

:41:51. > :41:55.without the care and support they need and it is adding hugely to

:41:56. > :42:01.costs for the NHS. I was disappointed to see the Better Care

:42:02. > :42:07.Fund has been brought forward yet but is under discussion. Could the

:42:08. > :42:13.chance to confirm, we try and get away from the divisive debate in

:42:14. > :42:18.this Has about how to fund social care, and that all parties work

:42:19. > :42:23.together for a sustainable long-term settlement? I am all in favour of

:42:24. > :42:28.discussing big, strategic questions in a grown-up way and trying to

:42:29. > :42:33.build consensus across the House but I see little interest from across

:42:34. > :42:38.the other side in doing that. We have made a commitment of ?10

:42:39. > :42:49.billion additional funding for the NHS over this Parliament. We have a

:42:50. > :42:53.senior management team in the NHS that has drawn up a plan that set

:42:54. > :42:57.the budget and asked for the money and they've been given the money. We

:42:58. > :43:02.should allow them to show what they can do. The Chancellor's Autumn

:43:03. > :43:09.Statement suggests more public borrowing with total public debt due

:43:10. > :43:17.to increased to ?1.6 trillion in the New Year and ?1.9 trillion by 2020,

:43:18. > :43:21.four times what it was in 2005. Is the accumulation of unsustainable

:43:22. > :43:27.levels of public debt due to the failure of his predecessor to match

:43:28. > :43:33.his words and deeds I get a grip on public spending? I appreciate he

:43:34. > :43:39.won't have had a chance yet to read the report, he will see that the big

:43:40. > :43:45.drivers of debt are, first, the deteriorating forecast for growth

:43:46. > :43:49.which has a" : the structural change which appears to be taking place in

:43:50. > :43:54.the relationship between a given level of GDP and tax receipts which

:43:55. > :43:58.I mentioned in my statement and which we will have two address, and

:43:59. > :44:03.the measures the Bank of England took which have a direct impact on

:44:04. > :44:11.debt but only in the short term because they unwind over the course

:44:12. > :44:15.of a few years. Can I warmly welcome the Chancellor's significant

:44:16. > :44:18.commitment to British science today, research and commercialisation, but

:44:19. > :44:25.as he moves towards the next budget can I add him to look at removing

:44:26. > :44:29.many of the regulatory barriers and providing greater tax incentives for

:44:30. > :44:33.individuals to invest insides and technology start-ups so we can build

:44:34. > :44:38.a truly enterprise culture in which everyone participates? My honourable

:44:39. > :44:43.friend has been kind enough to come and see me over the past few weeks

:44:44. > :44:47.to make some suggestions in this area and I announced in my statement

:44:48. > :44:55.that the Treasury will conduct a review of the available capital in

:44:56. > :44:58.this country and I include in that genuine individual investment into

:44:59. > :45:02.start-up businesses and making sure it is incentivised to stay in for

:45:03. > :45:09.the long haul so I thank him for his input and we will look at it

:45:10. > :45:12.further. Can I start by associating myself with the comments by the

:45:13. > :45:20.Chancellor and the Shadow Chancellor about the verdict in the trial of Jo

:45:21. > :45:24.Cox and I hope the whole of -- life sentence for her murder can give

:45:25. > :45:27.some comfort to her family at this incredibly difficult time and will

:45:28. > :45:33.enable us to remember Joe for the way she lived rather than the way

:45:34. > :45:36.she was murdered. Can I ask the Chancellor about universal credit

:45:37. > :45:43.and the changes he has made today? The taper rate will be 63p in the

:45:44. > :45:47.pound. That means for every additional pound earned, the

:45:48. > :45:53.recipient will lose 63p. That is a marginal tax rate three times higher

:45:54. > :45:58.than the basic rate marginal tax. Does the Chancellor honestly think

:45:59. > :46:02.that is sufficiently rewarding work and encouraging people to take on

:46:03. > :46:09.those extra hours we all want them to do? Again, I associate myself

:46:10. > :46:15.with the remarks she has just made and I am sure she is right that the

:46:16. > :46:23.entirely sensible sentence handed down will be a source of some

:46:24. > :46:29.comfort to the family. Look, she asks if the taper rate a

:46:30. > :46:34.disincentive an incentive to work? Of course, the lower the taper rate

:46:35. > :46:38.the greater the incentive to work. I recognise that and I said I would

:46:39. > :46:43.listen carefully to representations to do something in this area and I

:46:44. > :46:50.balance those against Mike judgment against our fiscal capacity. I have

:46:51. > :46:54.funded every single spending commitment made today. If we had

:46:55. > :47:01.gone further than 63% we would have had to raise more money. At present

:47:02. > :47:09.that is not the right thing to do. I would gently remind her that 63% or

:47:10. > :47:13.65% is a lot lower than a marginal withdrawal rate of 90% which is what

:47:14. > :47:20.many were facing under the tax credit system. May I welcome the

:47:21. > :47:25.steps the Chancellor has taken to tackle some of the issues for real

:47:26. > :47:31.rule as Mrs and particularly the extension of rural rate relief and

:47:32. > :47:35.fibre broadband. I would like to thank the Chancellor for the ?1.4

:47:36. > :47:40.million which will be going to the older centre to help build a new

:47:41. > :47:46.building to provide counselling services across the North West two

:47:47. > :47:53.believed parents and I know the trustees are absolutely delighted --

:47:54. > :47:57.the older centre. I am delighted we are even in these difficult fiscal

:47:58. > :48:06.times able to make these investments that can be life changing in local

:48:07. > :48:10.areas. Can I welcome the fact that the Northern Ireland executive will

:48:11. > :48:14.have ?250 million worth of additional capital spending and also

:48:15. > :48:19.the commitment to reduce corporation tax which should lower the bill for

:48:20. > :48:24.the devolution of corporation tax from Northern Ireland without

:48:25. > :48:30.damaging our ability to compete with the Republic. The Chancellor has

:48:31. > :48:35.said growth is still damaging and is imbalanced across the UK. Will he

:48:36. > :48:38.accept that, should there be sensible proposals from the Northern

:48:39. > :48:45.Ireland executive for further measures to be addressed that issue,

:48:46. > :48:49.that he will pay attention and respond to those? Does he accept

:48:50. > :48:55.that his acceptance of the lower forecast of growth for the UK in the

:48:56. > :49:01.long term, despite it contradicting the short-term forecasts, can be

:49:02. > :49:05.self-fulfilling and can damage places like Northern Ireland even

:49:06. > :49:14.disproportionately with other parts of the UK? I am not sure that

:49:15. > :49:20.receiving the OBR report constitutes acceptance of anything. It is what

:49:21. > :49:24.it is Army had to respond. On the question of in balancing growth, of

:49:25. > :49:33.course it is a problem and increasing economic growth in

:49:34. > :49:40.Northern Ireland is a high priority. The only way to address that is to

:49:41. > :49:45.improve quality -- productivity and get more investment into Northern

:49:46. > :49:50.Ireland so that growth rates are increased. Obviously I will respond

:49:51. > :49:54.to any proposals that come from the Northern Ireland executive. I can't

:49:55. > :50:02.promise him how I will respond but I will respond. The extra investment

:50:03. > :50:04.in building affordable homes and in infrastructure is excellent news.

:50:05. > :50:08.With the Chancellor agree that cheaper homes are one of the most

:50:09. > :50:14.important things we can do to raise standards of living for everyone and

:50:15. > :50:18.to improve economic product -- productivity and will he, therefore,

:50:19. > :50:24.support moves to increase the supply of urban house-building sites to

:50:25. > :50:30.allow developers to build up and not out? My honourable friend is right

:50:31. > :50:36.in that making sure housing is affordable is not only a key social

:50:37. > :50:41.priority but a key economic priority. It is clear that an

:50:42. > :50:46.affordability of housing, certainly in many areas of the country, has

:50:47. > :50:53.become a drag on productivity, economic growth and investment.

:50:54. > :50:57.Investment in housing not only advantages the economy, but it

:50:58. > :51:02.directly helps families so I am pleased we have been able to do

:51:03. > :51:06.something on that front today. The Communities Secretary will bring

:51:07. > :51:10.forward a housing white paper in due course and he will address the

:51:11. > :51:15.longer term strategic problems, one of which is the point my honourable

:51:16. > :51:21.friend has made. Thank you. Further to the questions from my honourable

:51:22. > :51:26.friend 's and the honourable member for Totnes, there is not one single

:51:27. > :51:32.mention in the 72 page Autumn Statement document of the words NHS,

:51:33. > :51:36.social care, mental health and public health. The Chancellor cannot

:51:37. > :51:41.ignore the fact that our health and social care services are in crisis,

:51:42. > :51:46.facing massive, massive deficits. Surely the many economists in his

:51:47. > :51:52.department would have said it's economically illiterate to ignore

:51:53. > :51:55.the massive decrease and the cuts to public health and mental health

:51:56. > :52:02.training. Why was the NHS missing from the Autumn Statement today? We

:52:03. > :52:07.have been around this loop before. We are putting ?10 billion a year

:52:08. > :52:13.more into the NHS by the end of this Parliament. We are delivering what

:52:14. > :52:16.the senior management of the National Health Service asked for

:52:17. > :52:22.and we will work with them to make sure it is ineffective because it

:52:23. > :52:25.has to be spent effectively and be delivered effectively. I keep in

:52:26. > :52:30.very close contact with my right honourable friend the Secretary of

:52:31. > :52:35.State for Health and he is working closely with NHS management. It is

:52:36. > :52:40.tempting for honourable members opposite to paint everything as a

:52:41. > :52:45.crisis or a looming chaos but it is not the case. We have a programme

:52:46. > :52:48.for investment in the NHS. It is being delivered and we will keep a

:52:49. > :52:53.close eye on the way it is being delivered.

:52:54. > :52:59.I welcome the announcement and the statement and I am particularly

:53:00. > :53:04.pleased to welcome the extra 2 billion promised to research and

:53:05. > :53:10.development. Does my right honourable friend agree that this

:53:11. > :53:13.will help underpin develop and in life sciences, which is key to the

:53:14. > :53:16.Northern powerhouse. Just to be clear, it is by the end of the

:53:17. > :53:20.parliament, 2 billion a year additional that is going into

:53:21. > :53:24.research and development. My honourable friend is right, life

:53:25. > :53:27.sciences, synthetic biology, they are one of the areas where the UK

:53:28. > :53:34.has gained a really significant lead. On a disruptive area of

:53:35. > :53:39.technology that is going to shape the future of our economy and the

:53:40. > :53:43.economy of the world, several, three or four such areas where are we

:53:44. > :53:47.really have two invest now, to make sure that we get the critical

:53:48. > :53:52.footprint that will allow us to be the leaders in this fourth

:53:53. > :53:56.Industrial Revolution, just as we lead the first Industrial

:53:57. > :54:02.Revolution. Can I open the elements of the statement which are positive

:54:03. > :54:06.-- welcome. The spending on infrastructure, broadband and Mobil

:54:07. > :54:13.phone... The reduction on fuel duty, and the other changes which are

:54:14. > :54:17.steps in the right direction, we wanted to see the extra cash given

:54:18. > :54:21.to the NHS and social care that is needed as winter comes on, it risks

:54:22. > :54:27.becoming acute, but I understand the difficulties that face the chance to

:54:28. > :54:33.be, knee has ?122 billion black hole as a result of Brexit, and so as the

:54:34. > :54:37.honourable lady from Tottenham has said, instead of using the NHS as a

:54:38. > :54:42.political football, will he work with people across the party and of

:54:43. > :54:46.no party to identify where that money can be got, because frankly,

:54:47. > :54:51.it is too important to be treated like this? First of all, I would

:54:52. > :54:57.urge the honourable gentleman to look at the figures in a little more

:54:58. > :55:02.detail, the ?122 billion that he quotes runs over a fifth year, it

:55:03. > :55:06.includes the ?23 billion of discretionary additional commitments

:55:07. > :55:12.that I have made today, and includes over ?20 billion of baseline

:55:13. > :55:18.adjustments due to previous policy changes around welfare benefits and

:55:19. > :55:22.classification changes made by the ONS. He needs to look at the

:55:23. > :55:26.figures. On the NHS, as I have said already, there are trust deficits

:55:27. > :55:30.building up across the country, at the moment they are manageable

:55:31. > :55:35.within the context of the NHS's own internal cash management system, but

:55:36. > :55:42.of course we will keep a close eye on it. We take the view that the NHS

:55:43. > :55:46.has asked for financing of a specific and defined plan, we have

:55:47. > :55:51.provided that financing, we now need to challenge the NHS managers who

:55:52. > :55:54.asked for that money to deliver the outcome is that they promised. We

:55:55. > :56:01.will watch very closely and stick very close by as they do. Can I

:56:02. > :56:06.congratulate my right honourable friend on his first and last Autumn

:56:07. > :56:09.Statement, and in particular, warmly welcome the support for

:56:10. > :56:12.infrastructure. Can I urge him to think about in regards to the

:56:13. > :56:17.140,000 new houses and investment put into that that he considers the

:56:18. > :56:20.suggestion from National Housing Federation that these affordable

:56:21. > :56:25.houses be built tenure free, so that they may be delivered more quickly.

:56:26. > :56:29.He may have missed it but in the statement I did say that we will

:56:30. > :56:35.relax restrictions on ten year that normally are attached to a

:56:36. > :56:41.affordable housing grant funding, so that affordable housing providers

:56:42. > :56:44.can build with a mix of ten years that is right for this particular

:56:45. > :56:48.market, where they are operating, which will allow houses to be built

:56:49. > :56:55.more quickly and housing needs to be met more quickly. The Prime Minister

:56:56. > :56:59.expressed outrage in her conference speech at the two thirds of energy

:57:00. > :57:03.bill payers paying over the odds on the standard variable tariff, this

:57:04. > :57:05.has been confirmed by the competition markets authority and I

:57:06. > :57:09.first spoke about this five years ago. It is disappointing that it has

:57:10. > :57:15.not had a mention in his speech today. I think that we should have a

:57:16. > :57:18.protective tariff, a cap for those on standard variable rate, and I

:57:19. > :57:24.understand there are meetings across Whitehall to discuss this idea. Can

:57:25. > :57:30.he confirm or deny the rumours that a default tariff is under

:57:31. > :57:36.discussion? I am not going to confirm or deny what discussions are

:57:37. > :57:39.going on across Whitehall, and I fully understand the honourable lady

:57:40. > :57:44.may have missed it in the depths of the statement but I did say that we

:57:45. > :57:49.will set up and are setting up a review of markets including the

:57:50. > :57:53.retail energy market, to ensure that they are operating fairly for

:57:54. > :57:59.consumers. Where we find they are not, we will make proposals and take

:58:00. > :58:05.actions. I welcome the Autumn Statement, always a question on the

:58:06. > :58:10.beer industry, and here it is, it is taxed at three different levels

:58:11. > :58:15.depending upon the ABV, the lowest rate is 1.2 to 2.8%, to attract

:58:16. > :58:18.consumers to drink low alcoholic beers, will he meet with me as

:58:19. > :58:24.president of the all-party beer group to discuss looking at the top

:58:25. > :58:27.rate, raising it to 3.5%, attracting people away from those heavier

:58:28. > :58:37.alcoholic beers, too low alcoholic beers? If he names the bar, I will

:58:38. > :58:41.meet with him! That was a splendidly pithy answer, but questions are

:58:42. > :58:46.becoming rather long, there is still nearly 50 members hoping to

:58:47. > :58:49.contribute, I am keen to accommodate them but I can only do that if

:58:50. > :58:54.people can to put it bluntly abandon the preamble and get on with the

:58:55. > :58:59.pithy preferably single sentence in quarry, I am sure that we can be led

:59:00. > :59:07.in this by Caroline Dickinson. -- enquiry. Disappointingly, this

:59:08. > :59:11.Chancellor has joined his bread Sir in failing to mention the words

:59:12. > :59:16.climate change even one. -- Caroline Lucas. This is set to be the hottest

:59:17. > :59:20.year on record and parts of the country are under floodwater. Can he

:59:21. > :59:24.justify continued hand-outs to the oil and gas sector while there is no

:59:25. > :59:29.assurances of support for clean energy post 2020, no reverse of the

:59:30. > :59:36.critical solar tax hike and nothing on keeping homes warm this winter.

:59:37. > :59:41.One sentence, involving the abandonment of punctuation! LAUGHTER

:59:42. > :59:44.Mr Speaker, if she looks carefully at the statement she will see that I

:59:45. > :59:50.did announce a significant additional funding to pursue

:59:51. > :00:00.ultralow emissions vehicles, an area where the UK is already a technology

:00:01. > :00:02.leader. There will be 100% first year allowances on all electric

:00:03. > :00:09.charging infrastructure. We know that the biggest deterrent to moving

:00:10. > :00:12.to electric vehicles is fear of being unable to charge them, and

:00:13. > :00:17.getting a widespread charging network rolled out will allow us to

:00:18. > :00:27.meet and ambition to electrify the fleet. The condition of the working

:00:28. > :00:30.people has always been a probation of the Conservative Party and in

:00:31. > :00:33.that vein I particularly welcome fuel duty, tax allowance and

:00:34. > :00:38.national living wage considerations, which I have campaigned for for many

:00:39. > :00:41.years. Taking the Chancellor back to the question from our honourable

:00:42. > :00:45.friend, the member for Wimbledon, in the dispersal of public money for

:00:46. > :00:50.affordable housing, would it be possible to break the monopoly of

:00:51. > :00:53.housing authorities and local associations, and mixed tenure sites

:00:54. > :00:59.to bring in local providers of affordable housing to deliver the

:01:00. > :01:02.homes that we all need? It is not absolutely my area of expertise but

:01:03. > :01:07.my understanding was that there is already opportunities for other

:01:08. > :01:11.providers to deliver affordable housing and to receive grant support

:01:12. > :01:19.to do so, but I will look into that matter and if I am wrong then I will

:01:20. > :01:23.write to him accordingly. I would like to welcome the ?23 billion of

:01:24. > :01:27.infrastructure spending, as many people here have, and say to the

:01:28. > :01:29.Chancellor that 1% of people currently working in the

:01:30. > :01:35.construction industry are men. Can the Chancellor tell me how many

:01:36. > :01:40.women's jobs does he think will be created by the ?23 billion, and does

:01:41. > :01:47.he think that the tax that we women pay should sometimes pay for our own

:01:48. > :01:51.prosperity? I'm afraid to tell the honourable lady that I don't have a

:01:52. > :01:55.ready answer for her of how decisively how many women's jobs

:01:56. > :02:00.will be created but I do know that we have more women in work than ever

:02:01. > :02:04.before, in this country, that female participation rates are approaching

:02:05. > :02:10.the levels of the very highest rates in Scandinavian countries, and I

:02:11. > :02:15.also know, because it is an area of interest to me, that there is more

:02:16. > :02:18.women going into what one might describe as traditionally male

:02:19. > :02:22.preserves, engineering, construction, than ever before, and

:02:23. > :02:30.that is a trend that we should welcome enormously and encourage

:02:31. > :02:35.further. Heidi Alan. Thank you very much, I was not expected to be

:02:36. > :02:41.called so soon, I want to say, thank you, thank you, an awful lot of RND

:02:42. > :02:44.money is going to help my constituencies, they have been

:02:45. > :02:48.worried since Brexit, thank you. East West Roebling 's and railings

:02:49. > :02:52.will help to spread prosperity. Overall, I know it is a difficult

:02:53. > :02:56.decision, it is not everything we wanted but I welcome the money that

:02:57. > :03:00.you have put aside for it. I am very grateful to the honourable lady for

:03:01. > :03:07.her generous words. Jonathan Edwards. Quite rightly noted at the

:03:08. > :03:12.beginning of the statement, one of the big challenges he faces is the

:03:13. > :03:16.inequality within the British state, a task made harder with the loss of

:03:17. > :03:20.EU structural funds. In future statements is it his intention to

:03:21. > :03:27.announce a convergence fund to replace the lost EU money? I

:03:28. > :03:33.recognise this concern, he will know I have made two statements since I

:03:34. > :03:37.became Chancellor, seeking to reassure businesses and universities

:03:38. > :03:42.and others that apply for EU grant funding, when they are successful,

:03:43. > :03:46.however long the funding runs on, we will underwrite it, if Brussels does

:03:47. > :03:49.not foot the bill, the Treasury will. He is absolutely right, we

:03:50. > :03:56.will have to put in place alternative arrangements for the

:03:57. > :03:59.period after we leave the, we will have to have a discussion with the

:04:00. > :04:05.devolved administrations about how that works, of course, between

:04:06. > :04:09.Whitehall and the DAs and once we get into the negotiation with the

:04:10. > :04:12.European Union we can start to see the direction of travel, and I think

:04:13. > :04:20.it will then be appropriate to have this discussion. I recognise the

:04:21. > :04:24.concern. As the Chancellor pointed out, we have a major productivity

:04:25. > :04:27.issue to address, I look forward to the green paper and the benefits of

:04:28. > :04:30.the ?23 billion of targeted investment but I congratulate the

:04:31. > :04:35.Chancellor on making that ?23 billion worth of investment in

:04:36. > :04:38.fiscal framework is reliable and sustainable and will continue to

:04:39. > :04:43.bring down the record deficit which this government inherited from

:04:44. > :04:49.Labour. I'm to my honourable friend, and I think we have embarked on the

:04:50. > :04:53.right course of action to protect the economy and make sure that it

:04:54. > :05:03.can take full advantage of the opportunities that will be available

:05:04. > :05:06.to it. I welcome the reference to the Northern powerhouse and

:05:07. > :05:12.transport for the North, with details, but is there any more

:05:13. > :05:18.funding so that we can invest in better transport across the North? I

:05:19. > :05:27.welcome a question from a former transport select committee chairman,

:05:28. > :05:33.and I have deliberately... Still is? All right! All right, then, I even

:05:34. > :05:36.more welcome(!)... LAUGHTER INAUDIBLE

:05:37. > :05:39.If I remember, she was the chairman when I was a member of the

:05:40. > :05:45.committee, so she probably gets the prize for longevity. I have

:05:46. > :05:50.deliberately chosen not to read out great long lists of specific

:05:51. > :05:54.projects and allegations of funding but rather to create a framework,

:05:55. > :05:57.what I have said in the statement, my right honourable friend the

:05:58. > :06:00.Transport Secretary will be making a series of announcements over the

:06:01. > :06:11.coming weeks, about detailed allocations.

:06:12. > :06:17.Please can you spend some of that money on the motorway junction

:06:18. > :06:22.between junction 25 and 26 on the M1, which will undoubtedly improve

:06:23. > :06:27.growth and productivity in my constituency. One of my thoughts in

:06:28. > :06:31.deciding not to announce all the allocations personally was that I

:06:32. > :06:34.would avoid... That I would avoid the lobbying for individual

:06:35. > :06:38.projects, I had not realised I would be invited to act as a conduit to

:06:39. > :06:44.the Transport Secretary. In this case, because it is my honourable

:06:45. > :06:48.friend, I will pass on her request. I must advise the house, I have

:06:49. > :06:54.noticed a growing split within the chamber between those that are

:06:55. > :07:00.glowering and those that are smiling... Members deploying

:07:01. > :07:04.different techniques... LAUGHTER ... In a bid to be called...!

:07:05. > :07:12.LAUGHTER Some have very beatific smiles, and

:07:13. > :07:13.others... Others... Very angered expressions! LAUGHTER

:07:14. > :07:18.INAUDIBLE LAUGHTER

:07:19. > :07:24.The smile is more effective! LAUGHTER

:07:25. > :07:32.Affordable house building last year fell to its lowest since 1991, in my

:07:33. > :07:36.borough, Wandsworth, the council which is Conservative approved the

:07:37. > :07:40.building of over 10,000 homes, at Battersea Power Station and nine

:07:41. > :07:45.elms, 13% of those were deemed affordable, however, the cheapest

:07:46. > :07:51.home there is a studio flat, costing ?400,000. These are not generally

:07:52. > :07:56.affordable homes, for local residents. -- Nine Elms. They are

:07:57. > :07:57.used as gold bricks for overseas developers, can the Chancellor tell

:07:58. > :08:20.me today what is an affordable home? There is a broad consensus that we

:08:21. > :08:23.need to make more housing across the UK more affordable, including

:08:24. > :08:28.housing people buy in the marketplace, but to do that we have

:08:29. > :08:34.two fundamentally address some of the challenges around land supply,

:08:35. > :08:37.particularly in high demand areas like London. The Communities

:08:38. > :08:43.Secretary will bring forward a housing White Paper which will

:08:44. > :08:48.address these more strategic issues. There is much to be welcomed in the

:08:49. > :08:51.statement, particularly the warm words about the strength of our

:08:52. > :08:55.science and technology endeavours, especially in the light of the

:08:56. > :09:02.recent science and technology report that called for a rise in spending

:09:03. > :09:08.into R.N. -- RND. So an extra 2 billion is a helpful step in that

:09:09. > :09:14.direction. We also need to attract the best talent here. Can my right

:09:15. > :09:20.honourable friend work with colleagues to ensure that there is a

:09:21. > :09:26.system to attract the best people into the UK as well as working with

:09:27. > :09:31.those already here? I welcome those comments as chairman of the science

:09:32. > :09:37.and technology committee and the ?2 billion per year referred to is just

:09:38. > :09:43.public investment in RND. Most investment is done by the private

:09:44. > :09:48.sector. At the CBI, the Prime Minister said we are also committed

:09:49. > :09:52.to looking at the RND tax credit system to make sure the UK is the

:09:53. > :09:56.most attractive place for an innovative company to do its

:09:57. > :10:03.research, development and innovation. On the question of

:10:04. > :10:08.immigration, I recognise the point that my honourable friend makes.

:10:09. > :10:12.Many companies that used to locate in the UK depend on being able to

:10:13. > :10:17.bring people with very high skills into the UK to work in their

:10:18. > :10:22.businesses. I am happy to say again today that whilst it is a clear

:10:23. > :10:27.intention to introduce controls on migration into the UK from the

:10:28. > :10:31.European Union, I cannot conceive of any circumstances where we would use

:10:32. > :10:35.those controls to strangle investment in our businesses by not

:10:36. > :10:42.allowing high skilled and highly paid individuals to be transferred

:10:43. > :10:52.here to work here. The most alarming number in the OBR forecast is the

:10:53. > :10:55.drop in business investment in the forecast business investment. The

:10:56. > :11:03.Chancellor said the big problem is uncertainty. The OBR said, "We asked

:11:04. > :11:07.the government for a formal statement of policy as regards its

:11:08. > :11:13.desired trade regime as a basis for our projections but they left as

:11:14. > :11:17.little wiser". The Chancellor had an opportunity today to tackle this

:11:18. > :11:21.uncertainty which is the basic problem, by setting at the

:11:22. > :11:26.objectives for the Brexit negotiations to keep us with access

:11:27. > :11:31.to the single market and in the customs union, why didn't he? I

:11:32. > :11:36.didn't because to do so would be to give away our negotiating cards in

:11:37. > :11:40.what is going to be a very complex negotiation. With respect to the

:11:41. > :11:46.honourable lady, even if I did while the Prime Minister did set out

:11:47. > :11:51.precisely our objectives and our tactics and a strategy for the

:11:52. > :11:57.negotiation that will not remove the uncertainty is the outcome will

:11:58. > :12:01.depend on the negotiation itself. As the Prime Minister is self, a

:12:02. > :12:05.negotiation is a process of give and take to get to a mutually acceptable

:12:06. > :12:12.outcome and that is what will be embarked upon.

:12:13. > :12:18.May I congratulate the Chancellor on his excellent statement and draw his

:12:19. > :12:21.attention to page 96 of the OBR report which sets out the

:12:22. > :12:27.assumptions in relation to Brexit. It seems there are two problems with

:12:28. > :12:31.those assumptions. One is they assume we will apply tariffs on the

:12:32. > :12:36.same basis as we do within the EU, which the Chancellor will know he

:12:37. > :12:40.will be able to remove. Secondly, they are clearly on the prospects

:12:41. > :12:45.for financial services so I wonder if we may be able to take a more

:12:46. > :12:50.optimistic tone and, with the freedoms we have outside the single

:12:51. > :12:56.market and Customs union, the ability to solve the productivity

:12:57. > :13:01.problem? Mr Speaker, as he will know, the OBR is mandated to report

:13:02. > :13:05.by Parliament and I are mandated to respond on the half of the

:13:06. > :13:11.government on those findings. But it is an independent body. It receives

:13:12. > :13:19.representations and I would suggest my honourable friend makes his

:13:20. > :13:28.concerns known to the OBR. From the abundance of smiling Scottish

:13:29. > :13:31.Nationalists countenances I will choose the following. Can I

:13:32. > :13:35.congratulate the Chancellor on abolishing the Autumn Statement and

:13:36. > :13:42.spring budget and introducing a spring statement and an autumn

:13:43. > :13:46.budget. I trust that is not his definition of productivity! My

:13:47. > :13:52.question is the OBR central forecast suggests that after 2019 air will be

:13:53. > :13:59.a precipitate fall in the contribution by business investment

:14:00. > :14:04.to GDP growth. In addition, there will be a negative contribution from

:14:05. > :14:09.trade. Does that not suggest that, when Britain leaves the single

:14:10. > :14:13.market or if we are taken out of it, the only thing between a recession

:14:14. > :14:20.and growth will be public expenditure and an overheated

:14:21. > :14:26.housing market? Well, first of all, on his first point, I recognise the

:14:27. > :14:31.fact that we have two respond to the OBR report in the spring and that

:14:32. > :14:34.can easily be carried to -- courage award as sobbing and Autumn

:14:35. > :14:48.Statement for a spring budget. In normal times, we will make tax

:14:49. > :14:53.changes, but it is prudent, especially in these times, to revert

:14:54. > :14:59.-- reserve the right to announce tax measures at the secondary event if

:15:00. > :15:02.necessary. The honourable gentleman raises a perfectly sensible

:15:03. > :15:06.question. I have to say, my interpretation of the figures in the

:15:07. > :15:11.table is not the same as he is but I would be happy to engage with a

:15:12. > :15:18.discussion -- in a discussion with him off-line. Although he has made

:15:19. > :15:22.clear he is not a conduit for the Transport Secretary, can I

:15:23. > :15:27.nevertheless welcomed the money for smart ticketing included in his

:15:28. > :15:32.statement. He is interested in productivity and our flexible labour

:15:33. > :15:35.market. Is he aware we have many constituents who commute three or

:15:36. > :15:42.fade -- four days a week and are forced to pay for a travel card.

:15:43. > :15:48.Michael can he look at that? I am aware because that one time I was

:15:49. > :15:51.Transport Secretary and I am convinced smart ticketing is the

:15:52. > :15:57.future because it not only allows us to deal with commuters who do not

:15:58. > :16:01.travel every day, but it also allows us to explore options where people

:16:02. > :16:06.might wish to travel in peak periods on Sundays but are able to travel

:16:07. > :16:13.off-peak on other days. If we could shift just ten of 15% of creators to

:16:14. > :16:16.the off-peak, we would change dramatically the pressure on rail

:16:17. > :16:20.infrastructure around London and other major cities so it's

:16:21. > :16:27.definitely the future. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I return

:16:28. > :16:33.the chance to the OBR statement that the government 's reply on their

:16:34. > :16:38.Brexit position left the OBR little wiser. They have assumed that the

:16:39. > :16:46.government will fail to meet their immigration target of reducing it to

:16:47. > :16:49.tens of thousands. So, can I ask the Chancellor, given the Prime Minister

:16:50. > :16:56.'s recent statements on immigration as being her priority, as he gone

:16:57. > :16:59.back to the OBR and asked them to adjust our forecast? No, the Prime

:17:00. > :17:05.Minister was clear that it remains had to achieve immigration bid used

:17:06. > :17:11.to the tens of thousands, and has been clear that it will take time to

:17:12. > :17:14.achieve. The OBR forecast stretches over five years and the Prime

:17:15. > :17:20.Minister is absolutely clear it's a target that will be a -- achieved

:17:21. > :17:25.over a longer time frame to manage the impact on the economy.

:17:26. > :17:30.May I congratulate the Chancellor on an excellent first and last Autumn

:17:31. > :17:36.Statement. Can I draw his attention to page 40 and what is welcome was

:17:37. > :17:44.that fuel duty rates will remain frozen for the seven successive year

:17:45. > :17:48.saving motorists around ?130 a year as opposed to what would have been

:17:49. > :17:53.the case under the 2010 escalator. It is good for drivers. I am

:17:54. > :17:58.grateful and I am glad he is pleased with the statement and I know he

:17:59. > :18:03.takes a great interest in matters relating to fuel duty and vehicle

:18:04. > :18:10.taxation. I look forward to continuing to engage with him on

:18:11. > :18:14.this in the future. Can I remind the Chancellor that the

:18:15. > :18:20.labour market is not working for everyone? Every year since 2014I

:18:21. > :18:23.have asked why this government allows the continued exploitation of

:18:24. > :18:30.workers and a sham and relevant companies and false self-employment.

:18:31. > :18:34.Every year and told is under review. As a recent success in the courts

:18:35. > :18:39.shows, the workers are fed up of waiting. Why is it that under this

:18:40. > :18:46.government a fair day 's work never translate into a fair day's pay?

:18:47. > :18:52.First of all, she will find if she looks in the Autumn Statement

:18:53. > :18:57.document that we are moving to shut down abuse of the AT flat rate

:18:58. > :19:07.schemes which has been used by employment agencies -- VAT flat rate

:19:08. > :19:11.scheme. But she is right about self-employment and I mentioned

:19:12. > :19:17.specifically the challenge of incorporation and the increasing

:19:18. > :19:23.number of single person, single director company and zero employee

:19:24. > :19:28.companies. We have asked for a review in the ways of working. It

:19:29. > :19:33.hasn't been going on for two years. Let me tell the honourable lady what

:19:34. > :19:38.happened. The Prime Minister took office in July so it definitely

:19:39. > :19:42.hasn't been going on for two years. She asked Matty Taylor to undertake

:19:43. > :19:47.this review and it is now underway. It's an important review, looking at

:19:48. > :19:51.how employment rights are being affected by this transition in our

:19:52. > :19:56.economy and its been driven by technology as much as anything. I've

:19:57. > :20:00.said we also have to look at it from the point of view of the tax base

:20:01. > :20:05.because it is also under threat by these changes. Thank you for helping

:20:06. > :20:11.low-income families today and those on universal credit. Also, the

:20:12. > :20:17.London devolution deal for housing which will enable more affordable

:20:18. > :20:25.homes to rent and buy. Can he reassure me that this is not a

:20:26. > :20:30.destination but a direction of travel and whatever the season,

:20:31. > :20:34.whether we will continue to stand up for working families? Absolutely, as

:20:35. > :20:39.my honourable friend knows well, the driver in everything we do is to

:20:40. > :20:43.build an economy that works for everyone. But we are realists unlike

:20:44. > :20:47.the fantasists on the front benches opposite. We know we can only build

:20:48. > :20:53.an economy that works for everyone if it is a strong economy with

:20:54. > :20:58.strong investment and a good, strong British company basic sporting leg

:20:59. > :21:06.products around the world. Whilst regretting the fact that there is no

:21:07. > :21:12.help for those Wasp women who need protection, I welcome the investment

:21:13. > :21:16.in broadband infrastructure, but can the Chancellor reassure people today

:21:17. > :21:22.that it will be fairly spread across rural communities and throughout all

:21:23. > :21:24.devolved and non-devolved jurisdictions to prevent further

:21:25. > :21:31.broadband inequality is opening up across Northern Ireland and Britain?

:21:32. > :21:38.Mr Speaker, the money that we are investing will be used partly to

:21:39. > :21:44.fund pilots, and particularly to cement our lead in five G. And

:21:45. > :21:50.partly to capitalise private sector investment. Our telecoms

:21:51. > :21:54.infrastructure is primarily funded by private investment, but I can

:21:55. > :22:00.assure the honourable lady that this funding will be spread across the

:22:01. > :22:06.UK. We want to spread the benefits of five G and superfast broadband as

:22:07. > :22:11.widely as we possibly can. I'd like to thank my right honourable friend

:22:12. > :22:15.for listening to colleagues on our side who campaigned hard for more

:22:16. > :22:22.investment in infrastructure and R investment. The Southwest regional

:22:23. > :22:26.local growth fund and the money for English as what funds will make a

:22:27. > :22:30.big difference to constituents and constituencies like mine. We only

:22:31. > :22:34.commit to working with the West of England devolved authority and the

:22:35. > :22:37.new mayor to make sure we better are not productivity, jobs and that

:22:38. > :22:40.investment we require in the west of England?

:22:41. > :22:46.are concerned, the principal purpose of having the combined authorities,

:22:47. > :22:52.so that we have yet another lever to drive productivity in the English

:22:53. > :22:55.regions, and I'm sure my right honourable friend the community

:22:56. > :23:01.secretary will be happy to work with me on that project. I'm always

:23:02. > :23:05.shining new Mr Speaker. The Chancellor is no Philistine, he will

:23:06. > :23:10.know that a predecessor of his, Lloyd George, visited Homewood

:23:11. > :23:15.house, in my constituency, in 1928, and although he appears to have

:23:16. > :23:21.dismissed my appeal for restaurateur funding for next year, as we

:23:22. > :23:24.approach the bicentennial year of the architect, can he assure me that

:23:25. > :23:31.it is not the end of the road, and can he submit to speaking positively

:23:32. > :23:35.on this future -- this in future. Having indulged myself with one

:23:36. > :23:41.specific announcement, the danger of doing that is that honourable

:23:42. > :23:43.members are bound to assume that means bad news for other projects,

:23:44. > :23:50.the bulk of the funding available for this kind of work will be held

:23:51. > :23:53.and will be distributed by BC MS and my right honourable friend, the

:23:54. > :23:57.Secretary of State for culture media and support will make announcements

:23:58. > :24:03.as appropriate. -- BCMS. Like many honourable members, from Hampshire,

:24:04. > :24:14.our GVA is affected by missing junction is because of junctions --

:24:15. > :24:19.is affected by missing junctions. Vital to facilitate a longer runway

:24:20. > :24:23.at Southampton Airport, tackling air pollution and unlocking potential

:24:24. > :24:26.housing. Can the Chancellor make a statement regarding the local fund

:24:27. > :24:35.and how that will play into the Autumn Statement. No, what I have

:24:36. > :24:38.done today, sorry to say that my honourable friend, what I have done

:24:39. > :24:43.is added ?23 billion worth of infrastructure and RND expenditure

:24:44. > :24:48.to existing very significant budgets, but part of that will go to

:24:49. > :24:52.transport and part of that will go to road schemes, but it will be for

:24:53. > :24:55.my right honourable friend the Transport Secretary to listen to the

:24:56. > :24:59.representation that she and others are making and allocate the funds

:25:00. > :25:09.according to the appropriate principles to maximise productivity

:25:10. > :25:12.growth in our economy. Schools in my constituency are not alone in

:25:13. > :25:19.stepping into fill the welfare gap, as parents hit by government cuts on

:25:20. > :25:23.the breadline struggle to buy school uniforms and stationary and shoes.

:25:24. > :25:27.This is getting worse and this is in the 21st-century, Mr Speaker. What

:25:28. > :25:32.impact does the Chancellor believes that his projected 8% per-pupil

:25:33. > :25:37.spending cut, as estimated by the IAF is, will have on social mobility

:25:38. > :25:40.of a generation of children, and how can it be right that instead of

:25:41. > :25:45.softening these cuts that he has voted for, he has instead chosen to

:25:46. > :25:48.spend 60 million a year on expanding grammar schools, this should have

:25:49. > :25:55.been part of his plan for productivity. I don't agree, she

:25:56. > :25:57.needs to look at these things in the round, I know that honourable

:25:58. > :26:01.members opposite like to take a single example and exaggerate it,

:26:02. > :26:07.they need to look at the package in the round, what we are doing with...

:26:08. > :26:10.Allowances, for taxation of people in work, dramatically reducing the

:26:11. > :26:14.tax they pay, taking millions of people out of taxation, a pay rise

:26:15. > :26:19.for millions of people from the national living wage, look at it in

:26:20. > :26:23.the round. I welcome the news on universal credit, support is also

:26:24. > :26:28.vital, can I ask the Chancellor to support the extension of DWP's

:26:29. > :26:33.excellent small employer pilot, already helping those with a

:26:34. > :26:39.disability and long-term health condition. It has been confirmed to

:26:40. > :26:45.me that he has adequate funding for those programmes. Mr Speaker, the

:26:46. > :26:48.oil and gas industry has a bright future, when will the Chancellor

:26:49. > :26:53.implement the tangible changes that his predecessor committed to, on

:26:54. > :26:56.both decommissioning tax relief and the Royal guarantees, the industry

:26:57. > :27:00.needs these to secure current investment and secure increased

:27:01. > :27:04.future productivity. And I have confirmed again today that we will

:27:05. > :27:11.proceed with those measures and we will proceed with them as quickly as

:27:12. > :27:17.we possibly can. There has been a lot of negativity from people

:27:18. > :27:18.opposite, but more people are in jobs, and good jobs, average

:27:19. > :27:30.earnings of ?47,000. INAUDIBLE

:27:31. > :27:36.Clearly, there are many hard-working families being hit by a tax that was

:27:37. > :27:40.never intended for them. Absolutely right, this, was a commitment that

:27:41. > :27:45.we made in our election manifesto, a commitment on which we were elected,

:27:46. > :27:49.and despite the difficult fiscal circumstances we will deliver on

:27:50. > :27:54.those commitments. Can I thank the Chancellor for agreeing to my

:27:55. > :27:58.request and the request by the honourable member for Leeds West to

:27:59. > :28:01.reintroduce the statistical analysis of the budget, having looked at the

:28:02. > :28:05.distributional analysis and despite a bit of tinkering with the

:28:06. > :28:07.methodology, it is clear that as a result of the tax and welfare

:28:08. > :28:21.changes in this Autumn Statement, the bottom three will be less well

:28:22. > :28:25.off than better off. Will he commit to also helping out the people who

:28:26. > :28:32.are barely managing and cannot manage at all. Yes, our intention is

:28:33. > :28:40.to try to ensure the fairest possible distribution that we can,

:28:41. > :28:44.and I welcome the debate that he and others have stimulated on the

:28:45. > :28:48.appropriate way to present distributional analysis, it is not

:28:49. > :28:52.cut and dry, straightforward, but I would say this to him, we were

:28:53. > :28:58.elected on a manifesto commitment to get welfare under control, working

:28:59. > :29:04.age welfare had spun out of control between 1980 and 2010. We now have

:29:05. > :29:08.it back under control. That implies that we have to take some tough

:29:09. > :29:14.decisions and we have taken them, I will accept and explain the

:29:15. > :29:18.consequences of those. To support those just about managing we need a

:29:19. > :29:21.provision of more affordable houses, does the Chancellor, is he pleased

:29:22. > :29:24.to see the welcome from the Chief Executive of the National Housing

:29:25. > :29:28.Federation about today's measures that will enable an additional

:29:29. > :29:32.40,000 to be provided? And with banning consent running at the highs

:29:33. > :29:36.level for years, does he look forward to the sector very quickly

:29:37. > :29:45.getting spades in the ground? One of the attractions of funding

:29:46. > :29:48.affordable housing is that it is a tried and tested and generally

:29:49. > :29:54.pretty efficient delivery method. I'm afraid whilst standing at this

:29:55. > :29:58.dispatch box, not digitally enabled, as they say, so I was not aware of

:29:59. > :30:07.the welcome that he refers to, but I'm delighted this has gone down in

:30:08. > :30:10.the way I hoped it would. Mr Speaker, I'm disappointed but not

:30:11. > :30:14.entirely surprised that there is no reversal by the government of the

:30:15. > :30:17.two child policy and the rape clause, which will put people in a

:30:18. > :30:22.situation where they've can not possibly work their way into a

:30:23. > :30:27.situation -- work their way out of a situation they are in. -- rate

:30:28. > :30:31.clause. Can I ask about the new living wage rate, which will leave

:30:32. > :30:37.people who are 16 and 17 going into a job as the same time someone whose

:30:38. > :30:42.25 ?3 ?45 worse off to do the same job. Why is the labour of 16 and

:30:43. > :30:49.17-year-olds worth less to him than people aged 25? -- someone who is 25

:30:50. > :30:54.and they will be ?3.45 worse off. We think getting people into the

:30:55. > :30:58.workforce even at entry-level jobs is very important, there is abundant

:30:59. > :31:02.evidence that shows that if people at a young age get into a culture of

:31:03. > :31:06.worklessness, it will blight their lives forever, getting them... You

:31:07. > :31:10.know, we live in the real world, I am sorry to tell the Honourable

:31:11. > :31:14.Lady, we live in a real world where people will only get employed if

:31:15. > :31:18.employers can afford to take them on at the wage rates they have to pay

:31:19. > :31:21.them, getting them into work, getting them into the culture of

:31:22. > :31:27.work is the most important thing we can do for these young people for

:31:28. > :31:32.the rest of their lives. In East Sussex we have the challenge of

:31:33. > :31:36.large social care bill for an ageing population and low business rate

:31:37. > :31:39.returns to pay for it, I'm aware the Chancellor will not be allocating

:31:40. > :31:43.county money but can I ask that his ?23 billion investment fund is

:31:44. > :31:48.allocated with East Sussex's financial and democratic red

:31:49. > :31:52.demographic challenge in mind. I may have to disappoint him on that, the

:31:53. > :31:58.?23 billion is specifically targeted at productivity enhancing investment

:31:59. > :32:03.in our and D and infrastructure, we have done that because we judge with

:32:04. > :32:08.our level of debt that to be credible in the markets, we have to

:32:09. > :32:12.borrow only for that kind of productivity additional productivity

:32:13. > :32:15.enhancing investment. -- R It will go into network investment, R

:32:16. > :32:31.and innovation. The campaign led by the formidable

:32:32. > :32:37.Julie Kenny to save the house has not been properly honoured. South

:32:38. > :32:40.Yorkshire needs better transport links if it is going to succeed

:32:41. > :32:46.economically, on that basis can I ask the Chancellor wife only one of

:32:47. > :32:50.the five Strategic Rd projects, the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway, has

:32:51. > :32:56.been given the go-ahead today, is South Yorkshire going to get its

:32:57. > :33:01.trans-Pennine tunnel link or not? As I thought I tried to make abundantly

:33:02. > :33:05.clear, I am intending to move away from a micromanagement approach, to

:33:06. > :33:11.the budgets of my right honourable friend 's, who are perfectly capable

:33:12. > :33:15.of evaluating the arguments, making the decisions and announcing them

:33:16. > :33:18.themselves. That is what will happen in future. What I will say in

:33:19. > :33:23.future, I had the pleasure of meeting with Julie, who explained to

:33:24. > :33:28.me the very considerable efforts that have been made so far and I am

:33:29. > :33:34.delighted that we have been able to support the project so far. I warmly

:33:35. > :33:37.welcome the announcement by my right honourable friend on increasing

:33:38. > :33:42.infrastructure spending, but I would be failing in my duty if I did not

:33:43. > :33:45.like the rail connection which will take faster trains to my

:33:46. > :33:49.constituency where roads are at a premium and we cannot because we

:33:50. > :33:54.have beautiful countryside increase more tarmac in it. Can I just make

:33:55. > :34:02.this point that we shall be coming to seek his help in this mission. To

:34:03. > :34:05.be consistent I would have to direct my honourable friend to Mariah

:34:06. > :34:11.honourable friend the Transport Secretary, who will be delighted to

:34:12. > :34:15.hear his representation. Can I ask the Chancellor why should anyone

:34:16. > :34:19.believe the promises being made by Conservative government pretending

:34:20. > :34:24.to be the friend of working people, the party of the working class, when

:34:25. > :34:27.but six weeks ago workers were promised a seat on the board of the

:34:28. > :34:33.companies that employs them, a voice in their own future, only for that

:34:34. > :34:39.promise to be broken six weeks later on Monday of this week by the Prime

:34:40. > :34:43.Minister. Mr Speaker, that is not what happened, I'm afraid I am not

:34:44. > :34:45.responsible nor is my right honourable friend the Prime Minister

:34:46. > :34:49.responsible for what newspapers choose to write in their headlines

:34:50. > :34:53.but what she said and what she believes and what she is committed

:34:54. > :34:59.to is ensuring that there is proper channels for the voices of consumers

:35:00. > :35:02.and workers to be heard at board level in companies, so that those

:35:03. > :35:06.voices can be taken into account in a proper way in decision-making

:35:07. > :35:13.processes and that is what will happen. I joined colleagues in

:35:14. > :35:19.welcoming the ?1.1 billion infrastructure spending particularly

:35:20. > :35:23.as the Brighton mainline is falling apart and to enhance the

:35:24. > :35:26.productivity of Croydon constituents it needs fixing, what reassurance

:35:27. > :35:30.can be given to the hundreds of thousands of people using the line

:35:31. > :35:33.that upgrading and fixing the infrastructure will be something

:35:34. > :35:37.that the Transport Secretary will look at? I can certainly guarantee

:35:38. > :35:45.that the Transport Secretary will look at it, what I cannot guarantee

:35:46. > :35:48.is where it will be prioritised in the rail investment programme, as he

:35:49. > :35:52.knows, this is a long-term programme. What I have done today is

:35:53. > :35:57.announce specific funding for piloting and trials of digital

:35:58. > :36:02.railways. This is another transformative area, because if we

:36:03. > :36:07.can get trains on mainline railways, running at the kind of headway we

:36:08. > :36:10.are used to on the London Underground, for example, we will

:36:11. > :36:15.not need to build expensive additional infrastructure, we will

:36:16. > :36:19.be able to squeeze a lot more juice out of the infrastructure we have,

:36:20. > :36:26.that is my preferred route forward. Patrick Grady. In light of the move

:36:27. > :36:30.to an autumn budget, will he listen to recommendations from the

:36:31. > :36:36.procedure committee about the Estimates process, and opportunities

:36:37. > :36:39.on Scottish benches to scrutinise Barnett consequential is which we

:36:40. > :36:45.were told we would be able to do through Estimates as a result of the

:36:46. > :36:48.process introduced. I will certainly look at the point the honourable

:36:49. > :36:52.gentleman is raising, I do hope that he welcomes the move to an autumn

:36:53. > :36:55.budget, certainly one of the considerations when we were looking

:36:56. > :36:59.at this was the way it would interact with the Scottish

:37:00. > :37:04.Government's own budget and I hope that it will be helpful. I warmly

:37:05. > :37:07.welcome the investment in rail and road links from Oxford to Cambridge

:37:08. > :37:14.through Milton Keynes, delivering on the infrastructure commission

:37:15. > :37:16.recommendations. Will my right honourable friend confirmed that

:37:17. > :37:21.this investment will accelerate delivery of the project? Yes, it

:37:22. > :37:25.will accelerate delivery of the project, and as I said in my

:37:26. > :37:28.statement, I cannot emphasise enough, this has the potential to be

:37:29. > :37:36.so much more than just a transport link. We have many world-famous

:37:37. > :37:40.universities but two more than any others, world-famous, recognised

:37:41. > :37:45.research names there. Linking them together over a 60 mile stretch of

:37:46. > :37:52.road and rail unleashes enormous possibilities for creating a new

:37:53. > :37:53.tech corridor, building on the huge success of the Cambridge science

:37:54. > :38:06.park. The Chancellor correctly mentioned

:38:07. > :38:11.tackling the scourge of tax avoidance. Can I ask about a senior

:38:12. > :38:18.report published last week by the PCS union which warns that HMRC

:38:19. > :38:24.staff being lost will negatively affect staff and its ability to

:38:25. > :38:31.collect staff. Will he reviewed the office closure programme as result

:38:32. > :38:35.of those results? With that ?800 million of additional resort into

:38:36. > :38:40.HMRC and if you look at the additional results today he will see

:38:41. > :38:43.that we have put more into day. The way in which HMRC operates, much of

:38:44. > :38:58.this is about specialist units which need to be in specific places. If we

:38:59. > :39:02.want action against the most difficult parts of avoidance and

:39:03. > :39:07.evasion, we have to be prepared to go with the experts. I listened very

:39:08. > :39:15.carefully to the Chancellor's Autumn Statement and then looked for

:39:16. > :39:22.information on the Dawlish railway and whilst I know he is not doing

:39:23. > :39:24.individual schemes, can I ask that the massive infrastructure

:39:25. > :39:28.investment that's been talked about is likely to include the nearly ?300

:39:29. > :39:33.billion project to secure that line that this is the preparation for? I

:39:34. > :39:41.think my honourable friend can take this as a higher priority, as we are

:39:42. > :39:45.all acutely aware of the vulnerability of the railway in the

:39:46. > :39:52.south-west as a result of flood risk and this is a first step towards

:39:53. > :39:56.fixing that. Given the decline in the value of sterling, how much will

:39:57. > :40:04.we have do pay for the F 30 firefighters to go on our aircraft

:40:05. > :40:11.carriers? The present rate is $100 million a time. As the Chancellor

:40:12. > :40:16.increased his cost assessment for future years? It's a fair question

:40:17. > :40:19.and the answer is that the Ministry of Defence, and among Government

:40:20. > :40:24.departments, has the ability and does in practice take the ability to

:40:25. > :40:29.hedge currency risk because so much of its capital expenditure programme

:40:30. > :40:32.is denominated in US dollars, so it does have a degree of protection

:40:33. > :40:39.over the coming years. That protection won't last for ever and

:40:40. > :40:42.if sterling's current weakness against dollar persists, we would

:40:43. > :40:46.have do revisit that but I would hope that as the cloud of

:40:47. > :40:50.uncertainty around the British economy disperses in due course and

:40:51. > :40:54.people are able to see the strong prospects for this economy in the

:40:55. > :41:06.future, we will find sterling gradually finding its feet again. Mr

:41:07. > :41:08.Speaker, I welcome the fact that the Edinburgh South East Scotland deal

:41:09. > :41:12.is still contained within the Autumn Statement but that is more than two

:41:13. > :41:19.years that the local authorities involved in this have been looking

:41:20. > :41:23.for movement. We are not seeing anything coming forward in this. Can

:41:24. > :41:30.we ask when this deal will be signed off? I can't give any information on

:41:31. > :41:34.that. We are committed and engaged to the process and I've just

:41:35. > :41:43.confirmed that today. Obviously there are things that have to be

:41:44. > :41:54.agreed amongst the process and clearly we have to get to a decision

:41:55. > :41:57.as quickly as possible to deliver benefits to the people of Edinburgh,

:41:58. > :42:02.so I hope he will urge the people -- the local council to engage

:42:03. > :42:09.enthusiastically to get this done. I am interested in the infrastructure

:42:10. > :42:14.project and the money going to LEPs in the north of England. Does he not

:42:15. > :42:19.agree that money for the electrification of the Calder Valley

:42:20. > :42:24.rail line would help to improve productivity in the area and fix

:42:25. > :42:28.imbalance in the country? I'm not going to be tempted as a format

:42:29. > :42:32.sport Secretary to get into the weeds of my right honourable

:42:33. > :42:36.friend's portfolio and talk about the specifics of individual projects

:42:37. > :42:39.on the rail network but as I said, my right honourable friend will be

:42:40. > :42:45.making a statement in the near future. Will the Chancellor

:42:46. > :42:53.confirmed the assumptions or example on pages 241 to 248 of the OBR

:42:54. > :42:58.economic outlook means that not only will all forecast numbers be subject

:42:59. > :43:02.to high margins of error, it implies the Government will fail to achieve

:43:03. > :43:07.single market membership? No, I don't think it does imply that but

:43:08. > :43:10.it is the case, and I said this already, that the OBR have

:43:11. > :43:16.acknowledged specifically that there is a high degree of uncertainty

:43:17. > :43:21.around their forecast this autumn than there is usually for reasons

:43:22. > :43:29.which are obvious. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Having opposed welfare cap

:43:30. > :43:34.and the search engine for cuts, can I at least acknowledge and pass on

:43:35. > :43:38.the projected increases that are allowed in this statement? On the

:43:39. > :43:43.issue of devolution, the Chancellor rightly waxed positive about city

:43:44. > :43:49.deals in Scotland and in Wales, as he has done in England. Could he be

:43:50. > :43:53.more passive -- more than passive in his encouragement of the Northern

:43:54. > :43:58.Irish Government in their imitation of these projects. I'm not sure how

:43:59. > :44:01.much influence I will have over the Northern Ireland Executive of the

:44:02. > :44:09.next time I bump into a member of it, I will make that point.

:44:10. > :44:23.According to the OBR, the cost of Brexit will be 16 billion pounds --

:44:24. > :44:26.?15 million after Brexit... The Prime Minister has made clear that

:44:27. > :44:30.we must accept the decision of the British people, not just to leave

:44:31. > :44:34.the European Union but clearly implied in that decision is a desire

:44:35. > :44:38.for control over movement across our borders. That is not the same as

:44:39. > :44:41.cutting ourselves off from Europe, it's not the same as turning our

:44:42. > :44:46.backs on Europe, but there must be control of the flow of people into

:44:47. > :44:51.the United Kingdom, so the challenge is to get a deal that effectively

:44:52. > :45:00.allows our businesses, our workers to sell our products into Europe,

:45:01. > :45:02.European businesses and workers to sell their products into the UK

:45:03. > :45:06.while still meeting that political mandate we've received from the

:45:07. > :45:11.British people. Leeds remains the biggest city in Europe without a

:45:12. > :45:14.light rail or underground scheme. I welcome the announcement and

:45:15. > :45:20.transport infrastructure to tackle congestion. Can the Chancellor say

:45:21. > :45:24.if some of that money could go to the existing 250 million which could

:45:25. > :45:29.be used on a ground-breaking light rail scheme and could also connect

:45:30. > :45:36.with Leeds Bradford Airport, which doesn't have a fixed rail link? Mr

:45:37. > :45:40.Speaker, I'm afraid going to just repeat that I am not going to get

:45:41. > :45:47.into the weeds of trying to allocate every proud of funding that I

:45:48. > :45:50.announced in these statements to specific projects. That must be an

:45:51. > :46:00.issue for my right honourable friend, the Transport Secretary. The

:46:01. > :46:05.Green book confirms a 1 billion shall wail fund but we are still

:46:06. > :46:13.waiting on an oil fund in Scotland. The big ask is loan guarantees. Can

:46:14. > :46:17.the Chancellor confirmed the value of loan guarantees for the oil and

:46:18. > :46:24.gas industry and how soon that will be possible? Talking about the UK

:46:25. > :46:30.loan guarantee scheme, what I have announced today is that it will be

:46:31. > :46:34.extended until at least 2026. It has a very significant amount of

:46:35. > :46:39.headroom. I think the cap on it at the moment is ?40 billion. We're

:46:40. > :46:43.nowhere near using up that capacity. The important thing about the UK

:46:44. > :46:46.loan guarantee scheme is that it underpins projects at an early

:46:47. > :46:49.stage. There are many projects which have gone ahead without loan

:46:50. > :46:53.guarantees but because they had a commitment to the loan guarantee,

:46:54. > :46:57.they were able to proceed and then eventually were able to get funding

:46:58. > :47:01.without the loan guarantee, so it's playing a very important role which

:47:02. > :47:13.is understated by the measure of the guarantee actually issued. Again,

:47:14. > :47:16.the shale wealth fund, that ?1 billion, is that totally Treasury

:47:17. > :47:20.money worries some of that money coming from the company is

:47:21. > :47:35.developing the shale gas project? Its money from the companies. A

:47:36. > :47:38.point of order. Mr Speaker, as exchanges this afternoon

:47:39. > :47:42.underscored, the National Health Service and the facts about it are

:47:43. > :47:50.crucial for all of our constituents. In yesterday's debate, the

:47:51. > :47:57.honourable gentleman four Ellesmere Port, the Shadow health minister,

:47:58. > :48:01.declared that our work, ie the Labour Party's manifesto was very

:48:02. > :48:08.clear that we would pick ?2.5 billion immediately and then his

:48:09. > :48:12.edition plus whatever was needed. The Labour Party manifesto, Mr

:48:13. > :48:18.Speaker, in 2015 in fact said, we will introduce a tax on property is

:48:19. > :48:22.worth over more than ?2 million to help raise the ?2.5 billion needed.

:48:23. > :48:26.There was no mention of plus whatever was needed. We all know

:48:27. > :48:30.that our constituents are looking for veracity and truth when it comes

:48:31. > :48:34.to the Health Service. I'm perfectly certain that the honourable

:48:35. > :48:39.gentleman did not intend to mislead the public or this House or indeed

:48:40. > :48:45.this slip, but could you advise me sigh on how best to place on the

:48:46. > :48:50.record this correctly points the public can see the voracity of the

:48:51. > :48:54.argument? The honourable gentleman has just found his own salvation as

:48:55. > :49:03.the puckish grin on his face suggests he realises. Further to the

:49:04. > :49:07.honourable member for North Dorset's desire for voracity and truth, can I

:49:08. > :49:11.get your guidance on Government claims that they are spending an

:49:12. > :49:15.extra 10 billion on the National Health Service. These statistics

:49:16. > :49:19.authority have written to me this week, when I asked them to look into

:49:20. > :49:25.this, and they had told me that the claim has caused confusion, is that

:49:26. > :49:28.when NHS England spending is rising, some other elements of the

:49:29. > :49:32.Department of the health budget by decreasing. The authority continues

:49:33. > :49:37.that they will be asking Her Majesty's Treasury to investigate

:49:38. > :49:40.whether in future they can present estimates for NHS England and total

:49:41. > :49:44.health spending separately. Given this guidance and given that there

:49:45. > :49:48.is not an extra penny piece at all announced by the Chancellor today

:49:49. > :49:53.for health and social care, can you Mr Speaker use your good offices to

:49:54. > :49:57.ensure that the Prime Minister and other ministers desist from using

:49:58. > :50:02.this bogus claim? I'm grateful to the honourable member for his point

:50:03. > :50:06.of order. All members including ministers are responsible for the

:50:07. > :50:10.voracity of what they say in this House. The honourable member has

:50:11. > :50:16.formed his own view about it. There is a variety of options open to him

:50:17. > :50:19.to draw attention to his views, which I know are very important,

:50:20. > :50:24.especially to the honourable gentleman, but it is overall

:50:25. > :50:29.preferable that this is not done through incessant points of order,

:50:30. > :50:34.whatever the merits of the case, when they are in fact nothing of the

:50:35. > :50:42.kind. Oh, very well. A point of order. Mr Speaker, in the STS are

:50:43. > :50:47.last year it was reported that the National shipbuilding strategy and

:50:48. > :50:52.the Government's response to it would be published by the autumn

:50:53. > :50:55.stub -- Autumn Statement, but it has not yet been published. Can I ask

:50:56. > :50:59.you, Mr Speaker, whether you have had any indication from the Ministry

:51:00. > :51:03.of Defence as to whether they will make that statement today about an

:51:04. > :51:09.industry which is iconic, highly skilled and affects many of my

:51:10. > :51:14.constituents? The short answer is, no. Knowing what an assiduous and

:51:15. > :51:18.eager beaver the honourable gentleman is, I feel sure it will be

:51:19. > :51:22.in his place for the business questions tomorrow and then

:51:23. > :51:27.veritably leaping to his feet to request a statement or a debate on

:51:28. > :51:34.this important matter. If there are no further points of order, we come

:51:35. > :51:40.now to the ten minute rule motion. Mr Chris Green. Mr Speaker, I beg to

:51:41. > :51:44.move that leave be given to bring a bill to require those on the

:51:45. > :51:49.electoral register to produce proof of identity at polling stations

:51:50. > :51:54.before voting and for connected purposes. The purpose of such a bill

:51:55. > :51:57.is to bring the current electoral rolls used in Northern Ireland to

:51:58. > :52:03.elections for the rest of the United Kingdom. This is to reduce electoral

:52:04. > :52:04.fraud and ensure that our elections continue to be both fair and