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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is preparing to deliver his autumn statement as rumours swirl about what it might contain. 

The chancellor will give an update on the state of the economy and may also announce tax and spending changes.

Here’s all you need to know about when it will be and what it could say.

When is the autumn statement?

The autumn statement will take place on 22 November 2023.

What time is the announcement?

The announcement usually starts at 12.30pm – directly after Prime Minister’s Questions – and lasts about an hour.

After the statement, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves responds, and then other MPs ask questions about the statement.

Before the announcement, the chancellor poses for the press with the red despatch box containing the budget papers.

After the speech, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish a report outlining how the economy is doing and its forecasts.

What happens after the statement?

It depends on what is in the statement. If the chancellor announces changes to taxes, then legislation may need to be brought in.

This happened last year. The Finance Bill 2022 was brought in after Mr Hunt’s first autumn statement as chancellor, which included a £55bn package of tax rises and spending cuts to put the UK “on a balanced path to stability” after Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget.

It may be that no big changes are announced that will come into force before the next budget – in which case, nothing more will happen.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, with his ministerial box before delivering his Budget at the Houses of Parliament. Picture date: Wednesday March 15, 2023. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt before the spring budget

What could be in the autumn statement?

The focus will be on helping struggling families with the cost of living and boosting growth.

Mr Hunt has said “everything is on the table” when it comes to tax cuts, and has not ruled out rumours about a reduction in inheritance tax and changes to taxes on personal income.

Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Hunt said his speech would focus on growth, and pledged to “remove the barriers that stop businesses growing”.

Changes to inheritance tax are being considered – including reducing the tax rate from 40% to 20% on estates above £325,000. If the tax rate isn’t cut in half, there have also been suggestions it could be lowered by 30% or 20%, according to The Times.

But any changes to inheritance tax wouldn’t affect the majority of the population – only 4% of estates paid inheritance tax in 2021.

However, Sky News deputy political editor says in his latest podcast: “Despite all of the chatter… I actually don’t think that that’s particularly going to happen.”

The government could also cancel a planned increase on stamp duty.

The chancellor is also expected to cancel the planned 5p increase in fuel duty from April next year.

Mr Hunt has signalled there could be a squeeze on benefits to find savings for tax cuts.

Typically, the increase to benefits is based on the September figure for inflation – so a 6.7% hike.

But the chancellor has not ruled out using October’s figure instead, which would mean a 4.6% rise.

Mr Hunt has announced plans to remove benefits and step up monitoring of welfare recipients in an effort to bring more people into work. Further rules of the Back To Work Plan will be set out in the autumn statement.

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What’s the difference between the autumn and spring statements?

The spring budget was the main fiscal event of 2023. The budget is where the most significant tax and spending changes are usually announced.

The autumn statement is supposed to be an update – but sometimes the announcements can be just as big and important.

In 2017 the government introduced a change that was supposed to mean the budget would take place in autumn, and a spring statement would be delivered shortly before the start of the financial year on 6 April.

But since 2019 the timing has been thrown off – first by the 2019 general election and the COVID-19 pandemic, then the change in leadership in 2022.

Watch live coverage on Sky News of the autumn statement from 11am on Wednesday.

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CBI faces autumn deadline to refinance rescue funding

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CBI faces autumn deadline to refinance rescue funding

The CBI faces a deadline next September to refinance millions of pounds of funding put in place to avert its collapse during the autumn.

Sky News has learnt that a seven-figure facility put in place with banks will expire at the end of the third quarter next year.

While the size of the facility is unclear, sources have said it is likely to be several million pounds.

According to the business lobby group’s annual report and accounts, which was circulated to members late last week, it was able to survive the aftermath of a sexual misconduct scandal “through the backing of key members, the use of reserves, support from creditors and with bank financing”.

“The bank financing is due to terminate on 30 September 2024, after which it is the board’s current intention to look to renew the facility if required.

“The exceptional costs from the past year have now been paid and the organisation has been reshaped so that salary costs are appropriate given the expected level of income.”

On Friday, Sky News revealed that the CBI was urging members to swallow a further rise in fees even as it battles to regain its former standing among political and business leaders.

More on Cbi

Members will be asked at its annual meeting this week to approve a 5% rise in their subscription costs.

Self-styled as “the voice of British business”, the CBI has been slowly rebuilding its reputation, staging a slimmed-down version of its annual conference last month which featured an address by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor.

The group has been slashing costs by axeing a chunk of its workforce and closing most of its overseas offices following several rape allegations against former employees, which triggered an exodus of corporate members including Aviva and John Lewis Partnership.

Tony Danker, its director-general – who was accused of inappropriate behaviour but had nothing to do with the more serious allegations – stepped down in April weeks after being suspended.

The CBI briefly entertained autumn talks about a merger with Make UK, the manufacturers’ body, but these have now been curtailed.

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Abu Dhabi state-backed fund moves to take control of Daily Telegraph

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Abu Dhabi state-backed fund moves to take control of Daily Telegraph

An Abu Dhabi state-backed vehicle has moved closer to taking full control of The Daily Telegraph just hours after the launch of a regulatory probe that prevents it from removing key journalists from their posts.

Sky News has learnt that RedBird IMI has given the newspaper’s board and the government notice of its intention to activate a call option that will convert loans secured against the Telegraph titles and Spectator magazine into shares.

The move was communicated to key stakeholders late on Friday, and came as nearly £1.2bn was being transferred to an escrow account prior to its release to Lloyds Banking Group early next week.

A Whitehall source confirmed this weekend that the government had been notified about RedBird IMI’s move to exercise its option to take control of the shares.

A person close to the Abu Dhabi-based investor, which declined to comment formally, said it had already made it clear that it would seek to convert the loans “at an early opportunity”.

The activation of the call option does not mean the broadsheets fall under the immediate control of RedBird IMI, insiders pointed out on Saturday.

Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN) on Thursday which has triggered an inquiry by Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority.

Pressure has been mounting in recent weeks from Conservative politicians for the takeover of the traditionally Tory-supporting Telegraph newspapers by a foreign state-backed entity to be probed under public interest and national security laws.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Hague of Richmond, two former leaders of the party, have been among those who have called for scrutiny of the deal.

RedBird IMI has insisted that it would preserve the newspapers’ editorial independence and offered to give the government a legally binding assurance of this intention.

RedBird IMI has also pledged not to complete the acquisition of the media assets until it has received government approval.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer leaving Number 10 Downing Street, London, after a Cabinet meeting. Picture date: Tuesday June 20, 2023.
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Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer

On Friday, Ms Frazer confirmed a Sky News report that she would preserve the independence of the Telegraph during the investigations by making an Interim Enforcement Order preventing the Barclay family or RedBird IMI from interfering in their operation.

The IEO prohibits the removal or transfer of key Daily Telegraph journalists or any further change of ownership.

Both the family and RedBird IMI have agreed to the restrictions.

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The notice of the intention to exercise the call option takes two of Britain’s most influential newspapers a stage closer to a change of ownership for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The Barclay family, which has owned the Telegraph since 2004, has been in dispute with Lloyds for years about the repayment of a £700m loan and hundreds of millions of pounds in interest.

Sky News revealed on Friday that Lloyds is preparing to distribute a £500m-plus windfall to its shareholders next year as a result of its ability to recover a loan in full that it had long since regarded as impaired.

Ms Frazer is seeking regulators’ responses before the end of January, after which the takeover of the broadsheet newspapers could be approved or blocked.

RedBird IMI is funded in large part by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the owner of Manchester City, has agreed that a trio of independent directors, led by the Openreach chairman Mike McTighe, will remain in place while the inquiries is carried out.

Listen and subscribe to the Ian King Business Podcast here

RedBird IMI’s move to fund the loan redemption has circumvented an auction of the Telegraph titles which has drawn interest from a range of bidders.

The hedge fund billionaire and GB News shareholder Sir Paul Marshall had been agitating for the launch of a PIIN.

The Telegraph auction, which has also drawn interest from the Daily Mail proprietor Lord Rothermere and National World, a London-listed local newspaper publisher, is now effectively over.

Until June, the newspapers were chaired by Aidan Barclay – the nephew of Sir Frederick Barclay, the octogenarian who along with his late twin Sir David engineered the takeover of the Telegraph in 2004.

Lloyds had been locked in talks with the Barclays for years about refinancing loans made to them by HBOS prior to that bank’s rescue during the 2008 banking crisis.

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Struggling CBI to impose 5% fee increase on members

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CBI faces autumn deadline to refinance rescue funding

The CBI is urging members to swallow a further rise in fees even as the lobby group battles to regain its former standing among political and business leaders.

Sky News understands that CBI members will be asked at its annual meeting next week to approve a 5% rise in their subscription costs.

It comes less than three months after the organisation – which styles itself as ‘the voice of British business’ – won a lifeline from banks which agreed to provide sufficient funding to avert collapse in the aftermath of a sexual misconduct scandal.

The CBI has been slowly rebuilding its reputation, staging a slimmed-down version of its annual conference last month which featured an address by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor.

In a circular to members, it said the fee hike was in line with previous years.

However, the group has been slashing costs by axeing a chunk of its workforce and closing most of its overseas offices in an attempt to restore its finances to a more stable footing.

Read more:
Frazer to prohibit removal of key Telegraph staff during probe
Lloyds shareholders could reap £500m bonanza from Telegraph deal

More on Cbi

The crisis which erupted earlier this year, which followed several rape allegations against former employees, triggered an exodus of corporate members including Aviva and John Lewis Partnership.

Tony Danker, its director-general – who was accused of inappropriate behaviour but had nothing to do with the more serious allegations – stepped down in April weeks after being suspended.

The CBI briefly entertained talks about a merger with Make UK, the manufacturers’ body, but these have now been curtailed.

The business group declined to comment on Friday, although an insider said it was “standard operating practice…to adjust prices for inflation”.

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