By Mark Duell
Published: 07:18 GMT, 22 November 2023 | Updated: 11:45 GMT, 22 November 2023
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100,000 people on benefits is ‘wrong’
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told Cabinet that it was ‘economically and morally wrong’ that 100,000 people were on benefits with no requirement to look for work.
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The Chancellor said that his statement was one that backs business and rewards workers to get Britain growing.
‘He particularly pointed to tackling the problem of 100,000 people being signed onto benefits with no requirements to look for work because of sickness or disability, saying that it is a waste of potential that is both economically and morally wrong and that the back-to-work plan would support over a million people to find work.
‘The Prime Minister concluded Cabinet by saying it was no accident that stability had been restored to the economy and that inflation had halved – it was the result of actions taken by the Government.
‘He said the Government would now turn its focus to the long-term decisions needed to grow the economy further and build a brighter future – with the autumn statement delivering on that change.’
What happened at today’s Cabinet meeting?
The Daily Mail’s deputy political editor Harriet Line has just revealed what Rishi Sunak told the Cabinet this morning.
She reports that the Prime Minister said the UK’s economic policy could ‘change gear’ after the success in halving inflation – with ‘a focus on reducing debt, cutting tax and rewarding hard work’:
What is minimum wage and what is the rise?
The government has announced a rise in the National Living Wage that will see it increase from April 2024.
It follows a recommendation by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) in October 2023 to hike the base minimum wage rate.
So, what exactly is the minimum wage and how much is it increasing by? Read our explainer for everything you need to know about the minimum wage increase.
Isa changes rumoured in Autumn Statement
The attention of savers and investors will be focused on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to see what changes he may have in store for their nest eggs.
Many rumours have been swirling around in anticipation of what changes the Autumn Statement could bring for Isas.
Here, This Is Money reporter Helen Kirrane looks at the changes experts expect or hope to see for savers and investors – and who these changes would benefit most.
Evening Standard front page
Evening Standard cartoonist Christian Adams has just tweeted the front page of tonight’s newspaper for London which features his artwork:
Video shows Jeremy Hunt leaving Downing St
Here’s a video of the moment Chancellor Jeremy Hunt left 11 Downing Street this morning to get into a car that took him to Parliament.
What is happening to national insurance?
Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce plans to cut national insurance during his Autumn Statement announcement in the Commons today.
He is expected to offer the reduction for 28million workers.
A one percentage point cut in national insurance contributions would cost the Treasury about £5 billion and be worth about £380 a year to an individual earning more than £50,000, The Times reported.
Cabinet members dodge tax cuts question
Cabinet members have been asked this morning whether this is the ‘right time for tax cuts’ – but they dodged the question, as this video on MailOnline shows:
Autumn Statement ‘to help entrepreneurs’
Jeremy Hunt says he hopes the Autumn Statement’s measures will make a ‘really big difference’ to entrepreneurs.
In a social media video that has just been posted, the Chancellor said the statement had ‘110 different measures to help grow the British economy’.
‘I’m thinking of my own business, that I set up over 30 years ago,’ the Chancellor said. ‘I want to help thousands of other people do what I did, and I hope today will make a really big difference.’
Photos show Jeremy Hunt leaving Downing St
We’re now receiving the first photographs of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt leaving 11 Downing Street on his way to present his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons this morning:
Breaking: Jeremy Hunt leaves Downing St
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has just left Downing Street as he travels to the House of Commons by car to deliver his Autumn Statement.
‘Buoyant’ mood after Cabinet meeting today
MailOnline’s political editor James Tapsfield describes the mood following the Cabinet meeting at Downing Street this morning as ‘buoyant’.
Jeremy Hunt set to leave Downing Street
We’re expecting Jeremy Hunt to depart Downing Street soon as the Chancellor prepares to deliver his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons.
FTSE 100 trading level after opening rise
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.3 per cent to 7,502 soon after opening this morning, but is currently trading roughly level (0.05 per cent down) at 7,477.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said it was a ‘muted early trading session … as the rumour mill continues to grind about the seasoning Jeremy Hunt plans to sprinkle into the UK economy to try and improve its growth prospects’.
She added: ‘Investors will be highly attuned to what the Chancellor plans as part of that recipe and tax cuts now look set to be a key ingredient, even though they risk turning up the heat on inflation.’
Ups and downs in the Autumn Statement
MailOnline’s deputy political editor David Wilcock has just tweeted the followiong handy round-up of what we are expecting in the Autumn Statement today:
Cabinet meeting finishes as ministers leave
Ministers are now leaving 10 Downing Street following a Cabinet meeting this morning. They are pictured below (from top, and from left):
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron and Foreign Office Minister Andrew MitchellNorthern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and Education Secretary Gillian KeeganHome Secretary James CleverlyHealth Secretary Victoria Atkins
Video shows arrivals at 10 Downing Street
Ministers including Lord David Cameron and Grant Shapps have been arriving at Downing Street this morning. Watch them walking into No.10 in this video:
Pensioners in line for 8.5% state pension hike
Pensioners are to get a boost of almost £18 per week to their state handouts in the Autumn Statement after Jeremy Hunt decided to keep the ‘triple lock’ on place.
The Chancellor signed off an 8.5 per cent increase in the state pension, increasing the value of the new state pension by £17.33 a week – or more than £900 a year.
Read the full story from MailOnline’s deputy political editor David Wilcock here:
Answers to Cabinet Ministers quiz
So how many of those Cabinet Ministers did you identify from the photographs taken outside Downing Street today? Here are all nine – listed from top to bottom:
Home Secretary James Cleverly Education Secretary Gillian KeeganDefence Secretary Grant ShappsChief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott (L) and Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho (R)Health Secretary Victoria AtkinsNorthern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer
Croissants at the ready for Autumn Statement
It will be a busy day for financial experts today. Hargreaves Lansdown retirement spokesperson Helen Morrissey has got her ‘Autumn Statement fuel’ ready!
Arrivals at Downing Street for Cabinet meeting
Senior politicians are now arriving ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. How many can you name in these photos taken this morning?
Stay with us and we’ll bring you the answers soon!
What is the current UK inflation rate?
Last week it was revealed inflation had eased to 4.6 per cent in October from a year earlier – after hitting a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in the same month of 2022.
It means the Government has met its target of halving inflation by the end of 2023.
‘People are paying more tax’, says Labour
Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones has been on Sky News this morning talking to Kay Burley about the Autumn Statement.
Mr Jones said Jeremy Hunt is a ‘more capable’ Chancellor than Kwasi Kwarteng, but added that ‘people are paying more tax and paying more for their mortgage’.
House of Commons schedule for today
Here is the expected schedule for the House of Commons today:
11.30am: Northern Ireland questions12pm: Prime Minister’s Questions with Rishi Sunak12.30pm: Autumn Statement from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt1.15pm: Debate on the Autumn Statement
Where can you watch the Autumn Statement?
MailOnline will bring you live video coverage from 12pm today of Prime Minister’s Questions followed by the Autumn Statement. It will be on this YouTube link:
Photos show boxes on Treasury steps
Boxes are being delivered to the steps of the Treasury in Westminster this morning which are believed to containing embargoed copies of the Autumn Statement:
Breaking: David Cameron at Downing Street
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron has just arrived at Downing Street ahead of the Autumn Statement:
Autumn Statement updates on Twitter
You can also follow updates on the Autumn Statement on MailOnline’s social media channels today, including on X – formerly known as Twitter:
BBC and ITV reporters on Autumn Statement
Here’s what the political correspondents on the morning TV shows BBC Breakfast and ITV’s Good Morning Britain have been saying about today’s Autumn Statement:
Jeremy Hunt’s plan to ‘get Britain growing’
MailOnline’s political editor James Tapsfield has just published a new story on the Autumn Statement, in which he reveals Jeremy Hunt will vow to ‘get Britain growing’.
The Chancellor will make the Tories’ pitch to voters today by cutting taxes and cracking down on the workshy in what is a crucial Autumn Statement.
Read the full story here, as Mr Hunt draws battle lines for a long election struggle by starting to reduce the eye-watering burden on businesses and families:
Breaking: FTSE 100 opens up by 0.2%
The FTSE 100 index has just opened up by 17 points or 0.23 per cent to 7,499.
Here’s what financial expert David Buik has to say about it:
Breaking: Sir Keir Starmer leaves home
Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has just been photographed leaving his home this morning ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement later on:
BCC calls to extend business rates relief
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has reiterated what it wants to see in today’s Autumn Statement – including extending business rates relief:
Sunrise in London before Autumn Statement
Photographers have been out early capturing pictures of sunrise in London this morning ahead of the Autumn Statement in the House of Commons:
How much ‘headroom’ for Jeremy Hunt?
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to have some ‘headroom’ in order to meet his ‘fiscal rules’ of having debt falling in five years and for borrowing to be less than 3 per cent of GDP in that year.
The ‘headroom’ figure will be disclosed in the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts published alongside the Autumn Statement today.
But reports suggest it could be as much as £20billion, freeing up Mr Hunt to cut taxes in the run-up to the general election next year in an effort to keep the Tories in office.
Limited tax cuts proposed by Damian Green
The most limited programme of tax cuts has been proposed by the moderate One Nation group, chaired by former deputy prime minister Damian Green.
In a report prepared by former minister Stephen Hammond and published on Monday, the group’s main tax cut focuses on businesses, with a call for the ‘full expensing’ regime introduced in March’s Budget to be made permanent and extended to cover research and development.
The regime, which allows businesses to offset investment in machinery against their tax bills, is currently temporary but has been seen as a key method for boosting business investment.
Otherwise, the One Nation group has largely warned against significant tax cuts. Instead, the group has suggested rebalancing taxes to ensure that all income – whether from salaries, dividends or capital gains – is taxed equally.
Autumn Statement’s impact on the North
While most of the focus ahead of the Autumn Statement has been on tax cuts, there are further trade-offs that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will have to consider.
One is the level of investment by the Government in the areas the Conservatives won for the first time in 2019, mostly in the North and Midlands.
Many first-time Conservative voters will have been persuaded by Boris Johnson’s promise of ‘levelling up’ and greater investment in public services, while more traditional Tory voters in southern areas may prefer a greater focus on tax cuts.
If the Chancellor chooses to use his ‘headroom’ to pay for tax cuts, that will leave less money available for the investment that some voters are looking for at a time when public services are increasingly strained.
What are pension pots for life?
Savers will be allowed to open a ‘pension pot for life’ that all current and future employers can pay into under plans which may be in the Autumn Statement today.
The move is said to be part of a wider package of pension changes aimed at using the nation’s retirement savings to boost UK economic growth.
Read the full explainer from This Is Money reporter Tanya Jefferies:
Darren Jones to appear on Sky News at 8.15am
Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones is expected to appear on Sky News within the next 15 minutes to talk about the Autumn Statement:
Calls for more tax relief to the self-employed
Other groups of Conservative MPs have lent their support to tax cuts in recent months, including the New Conservatives, a group of northern and Midlands MPs elected in 2019.
Their specific proposals have been a mix of personal and small business cuts, including raising the VAT threshold to £250,000, scrapping the high income child benefit charge, and changing the rules to give more relief to the self-employed.
Here is the group’s full plan which it posted on social media yesterday:
Liz Truss allies want broad sweep of cuts
Allies of former prime minister Liz Truss have pushed for a broad sweep of cuts to both business and personal taxes, with the former prime minister’s Growth Commission publishing its recommendations last week.
Among those recommendations is cutting corporation tax from 25 per cent to 19 per cent, with a long-term plan to reduce the duty to 15 per cent, and reducing the burden of income tax and national insurance to pre-pandemic levels.
This latter cut might not involve a reduction in the headline rate, but rather the unfreezing of personal allowances and the reintroduction of the personal allowance for those earning more than £100,000 a year.
The Truss-backed Growth Commission also recommends considering cutting or abolishing inheritance tax – something senior Tories such as Nadhim Zahawi have called for – and stamp duty.
Backbench splits complicate Jeremy Hunt’s job
As the Chancellor prepares to deliver his Autumn Statement today, he will have more than half an eye on the competing demands of different Conservative factions.
The central split has been over taxes – which to cut and how far to cut them, with different backbench groups pushing different priorities.
The past year has seen some division over whether to cut taxes at all. While virtually all Conservative MPs believe the overall tax burden is too high, Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have repeatedly stressed the need to balance tax cuts with fiscal responsibility and ‘balancing the books’.
Even last month, Mr Hunt was warning that a large tax cut would be ‘inflationary’ and suggesting the state of public finances would not allow room for cuts.
That debate now appears to have been settled, with Mr Sunak signalling on Monday that a fall in inflation meant he could start to reduce taxes.
‘Working people are worse off’, say Labour
Ahead of the Autumn Statement, the Labour Party have also been having their say.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: ‘After 13 years of economic failure under the Conservatives, working people are worse off.
‘Prices are still rising in the shops, energy bills are up and mortgage payments are higher after the Conservatives crashed the economy.
‘The 25 Tory tax rises since 2019 are the clearest sign of economic failure, with households paying £4,000 more in tax each year than they did in 2010.
‘The Conservatives have become the party of high tax because they are the party of low growth. Nothing the Chancellor says or does in his autumn statement can change their appalling record.’
What’s happening to the National Living Wage
For almost three million workers, the Government has already announced an increase in the national living wage, which will rise from £10.42 to £11.44 from April, with the policy also extended to cover workers aged 21 and over, rather than 23 and over.
It will mean an £1,800 annual pay rise next year for a full-time worker on the living wage, while 18 to 20-year-olds will receive a £1.11 hourly rise to £8.60.
What Jeremy Hunt will say in Autumn Statement
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will tell MPs: ‘The Conservatives will reject big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth, not more.’
With the Bank of England forecasting a stagnant economy in 2024, Mr Hunt will insist his plan can deliver growth and reduce the national debt.
‘After a global pandemic and energy crisis, we have taken difficult decisions to put our economy back on track,’ he will say. ‘We have supported families with rising bills, cut borrowing and halved inflation. The economy has grown. Real incomes have risen. Our plan for the British economy is working.
‘But the work is not done. Conservatives know that a dynamic economy depends less on the decisions and diktats of ministers than on the energy and enterprise of the British people.’
110 growth measures in Autumn Statement
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to use his Autumn Statement to reduce headline rates of national insurance and make permanent a £10billion-a-year tax break for companies that invest in new machinery and equipment.
His deputy Laura Trott had already indicated that individuals would benefit from a giveaway as well as measures aimed at boosting business.
Mr Hunt’s Commons statement today is expected to contain 110 different growth measures as he seeks to revive the UK’s economy and the Tories’ election chances.
Bank clashes with City over interest rates
As the country awaits the Autumn Statement, the Bank of England has stepped up its battle against City expectations of an interest rate cut.
Bank governor Andrew Bailey claimed traders were placing ‘too much weight’ on recent figures showing that inflation has plunged to less than 5 per cent.
Read the full story in the Daily Mail from business reporter John-Paul Ford Rojas:
Can the Government afford tax cuts?
The tax burden is at a 70-year high after the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, but national debt is still around 97.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the size of the economy, and the Government has borrowed almost £100billion so far this financial year.
But this budget deficit is lower than forecast and – crucially for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt – he is expected to have some ‘headroom’ in order to meet his ‘fiscal rules’ of having debt falling in five years and for borrowing to be less than 3 per cent of GDP in that year.
Photos of 11 Downing Street this morning
We’ve just been sent these photographs from Reuters of lights illuminating the entrance of 11 Downing Street – the official residence of the Chancellor – on the day Jeremy Hunt presents his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons.
What will happen to taxes today?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that now his goal of halving inflation has been met, the Government can work on reducing the tax burden.
Measures are likely to include tax breaks for business investment, but Mr Sunak has also said he wants to ‘reward hard work’ – which hints at cuts to income tax or national insurance.
Photos of Jeremy Hunt preparing statement
Ahead of the Autumn Statement, photographer Kirsty O’Connor took a series of photographs for the Treasury of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt making final preparations:
Jeremy Hunt is ‘more positive’ on outlook
Earlier this week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hailed a ‘more positive’ economic outlook ahead of the Autumn Statement.
Watch his comments at the CBI conference in London in this video:
Minimum wage to rise to £11.44 from April
Ahead of the Autumn Statement, the Treasury announced last night that the National Living Wage will increase by more than a pound an hour from April.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that the pay threshold will rise from £10.42 per hour to £11.44, the largest increase in more than a decade.
Read the full story from MailOnline’s deputy political editor David Wilcock:
What is expected in the Autumn Statement?
The Treasury has already signalled a series of measures that will be in the speech, including a £320million plan to help unlock pension fund investment for technology and science schemes.
We are also expecting reforms to speed up planning for energy infrastructure and cut bills for those living near pylons, a drive to increase public sector productivity and a new ‘back to work’ agenda to get people off welfare and into jobs.
Alex Brummer on the Autumn Statement
The Daily Mail’s City Editor Alex Brummer has written in today’s newspaper about how decisions made at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 provide ‘much of the backcloth to today’s Autumn Statement’.
Read his full article on MailOnline by clicking below:
When and where is the Autumn Statement?
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will set out his plans for the economy in the House of Commons in Westminster at around 12.30pm this afternoon.
What is the Autumn Statement?
The Autumn Statement is the Chancellor’s main opportunity to make tax and spending announcements outside of the Budget.
Story – Jeremy Hunt to unveil growth boosts
Jeremy Hunt will unveil modern Britain’s ‘biggest ever’ business tax cut as he sets out his new plans to boost the economy and ease the burden on working families.
The Chancellor will try to rebuild the Tories’ reputation as a low-tax party with a targeted package of measures aimed at helping both business and families.
Read the full story on MailOnline here ahead of the Autumn Statement:
Welcome to our Autumn Statement liveblog
Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of today’s Autumn Statement.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to declare the economy is ‘back on track’ as he starts cutting taxes and pushes for business growth ahead of next year’s election.
Stay with us throughout today for all the latest updates, with the statement expected in the Commons at 12.30pm.
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