Autumn statement – latest: Jeremy Hunt will ‘slash national insurance for 28 million’ in tax cut budget

Jeremy Hunt will declare the economy is “back on track” as he announces plans to cut national insurance and extend a £10 billion-a-year tax break for businesses.

The chancellor said the autumn statement contains “110 different measures to help grow the British economy”.

With an eye on next year’s general election, Mr Hunt is expected to offer a national insurance cut for 28 million workers and make permanent the “full expensing” regime allowing firms to reduce their tax bills when they invest.

Jeremy Hunt said he hoped the autumn statement’s measures would make a “really big difference” to entrepreneurs, Adam Forrest reports.

In a social media video, the chancellor said: “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.”

We’ve had the social media posts, the press briefings and the customary shot of the chancellor leaving No 11 Downing Street.

So what happens next? The cabinet met this morning to sign off the statement and the rest of us now wait to see what is in it that hasn’t already been announced.

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will face off at PMQs as usual at 12pm, in a session that is likely to be dominated by the economy.

Jeremy Hunt will then deliver his statement from the dispatch box between 12.30 and 12.40pm.

The cost of living crisis is making life for shops tougher than at any point since the pandemic, writes James Moore.

But cutting business rates in the autumn statement will save more businesses going to the wall while we decide what we want from the high street.

Read James’s full report here:

Jeremy Hunt has left Downing Street and is on his way to the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement.

The chancellor is due to set out his Budget following PMQs at around 12.40pm.

He is expected to cut taxes, increase the national minimum wage and reform pensions.

In a social media video published last night ahead of the statement, 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.”

There are good reasons why the chancellor needs to get more people – including those with long-term illness and disabilities – into the labour market.

But his final autumn statement before the general election is not about empowering our most vulnerable – it’s all about the politics.

Read the full editorial here:

Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak have been dropping hints about tax cuts in Wednesday’s autumn statement, and it also seems that there will be some benefits reforms to get people back into the labour market, writes Sean O’Grady.

It’s a sharp change in mood compared to even a few months ago, and ministers hope it may signal a political as well as an economic turning point.

But what tax cuts can we expect and will they make a dent Labour’s double-digit lead in the polls? Read Sean’s full piece below:

The press “briefing frenzy” ahead of today’s autumn statement shows that the UK should revert to having one Budget per year, the Institute for Government (IfG) has said.

Most of the major announcements in today’s statement have already been made public in press reports.

“In a recent episode of their podcast, Ed Balls and George Osborne bemoaned the official preference (shared by IfG) for a single fiscal event a year – something that is the norm in most other countries,” IfG senior fellow Jill Rutter writes in a blog post.

“According to them, officials in search of a quiet life want to deny a chancellor the chance to make the political weather, by halving his opportunities to dominate the broadcast schedules and grab headlines.

“This week’s autumn statement is now being touted as another chance for a reset, in an autumn of resets.

“An opportunity for Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt to declare an economic corner has been turned, to spend the fiscal ‘headroom’ created by the combination of higher than expected inflation with the decision to freeze tax allowances (and quite possibly public service budgets) in cash terms.”

Jeremy Hunt has been warned that economic forecasts can “go down” as well as up after official figures showed the UK had borrowed less than expected.

Government borrowing between April and October totalled £98.3bn, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday – about £22bn higher than in the same period last year but nearly £17bn pounds less than the OBR forecast.

The has given but the chancellor some “fiscal headroom” to spend in today’s statement.

But the Institute for Government has warned there is a risk the OBR is over-optimistic at a time when the world economic outlook is very uncertain.

“The OBR has quite often found spare cash for a chancellor to spend – and our instant gratification chancellors tend to be unable to resist spending any margin that emerges instantly,” Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the think tank writes in a blog post.

“There is a risk: that the OBR is overoptimistic at a time when the world economic outlook is very uncertain. Hunt’s final risk is that lower (though still miles above target) inflation is less baked in than he and the prime minister hope.

“Inflation surprised on the low side in November but it is still very vulnerable to global energy price movements.”