Post Autumn Statement Chancellor hightails it to Gloucestershire -but why?

“Taking all this together we can look at the outlook for family incomes in the coming years, and it paints a grim picture”, the think tank said.

Hammond set himself an easier target for the budget deficit, saying he was targeting a shortfall of less than 2 percent of GDP by 2020, excluding cyclical swings in the economy.

Official forecasts that Brexit will blow a £59-billion (S$105 billion) hole in the British government’s budget drew fire from eurosceptics on Thursday (Nov 24), and even finance minister Philip Hammond said there was a “high degree of uncertainty” about the numbers.

Welfare spending previously “spiralled out of control” according to chancellor Phillip Hammond, but has now stabilised and there will be no further savings in this parliament beyond those previously announced. However, the two-year Gilt yield climbed briefly above 0.2% before falling back to 0.176%.

The newly-elected finance minister underlined that devolution continues to be at the government’s approach.

The UK has been criticised for its slow broadband speeds, with data from one speed test conducted by Ookla ranking London’s broadband as 26th out of 33 major European capital cities. “City regions will get new borrowing powers”, he said.

In addition, for affordable housing, Hammond allocated £1.4bn to support the construction of 40,000 homes, and relaxed restrictions on grant applications from the Affordable Homes Programme to open it up to support other tenures such as shared ownership.

“The Government can and should continue to step-in, to fill the gaps and to further incentivise investment in strategic technologies like fibre and 5G mobile networks if the United Kingdom to be a leader in ultrafast fixed and mobile communications”.

“So we will invest over £1 billion in our digital infrastructure to catalyse private investment in fibre networks and to support 5G trials”.

EEF chief economist Lee Hopley said Hammond’s lack of action on business rates was a “missed opportunity to support long-term capital investment and improve the attractiveness of the United Kingdom as a competitive location for manufacturing”. He said he has written to the National Infrastructure Commission asking for proposals for spending in the next decade.

Meanwhile, the insurance industry was dismayed to learn of a rise in Insurance Premium Tax (IHT). LOWER MIGRATION: 16 billion pounds One of Prime Minister Theresa May’s stated goals is to reduce the number of immigrants entering Britain after it leaves the EU.

“There will be a new penalty for people who use a tax avoidance scheme HMRC closes down”. A broader measure than real wages – real disposable household income – was forecast to rise by 2021, she said. By April it will be £11,500, and by the end of this Parliament, £12,500.

The policy of giving employees certain benefits and reducing their take-home pay accordingly has come under scrutiny from the new Chancellor: employers which provide the likes of company cars or computer equipment under salary-sacrifice arrangements can cut their own and their employees’ tax bills. “And the 40p threshold will rise to £50,000 over the same period”.

Britain’s economy has so far largely withstood the shock of the Brexit vote, wrong-footing the Bank of England and nearly all private economists who expected a bigger immediate hit. Previous announcements also featured heavily, including an increase to the National Living Wage to £7.50 an hour and a crackdown on fraudulent whiplash claims.