Autumn statement: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to claim economy is ‘back on track’
Jeremy Hunt will claim the economy is “back on track” in an autumn statement that is expected to prioritise tax cuts and economic growth.
The chancellor is expected to say the government’s plan for the economy is “working” but “the work is not done” as he unveils measures to boost business investment by £20bn a year, cut tax and get more people into work.
Mr Hunt will also set out decisions to grow the economy, reduce debt and return inflation to the Bank of England target of 2% – building further on Mr Sunak’s pledge to halve inflation by the end of the year.
Politics news – latest: Tories ‘running out of time’ – so expect tax cuts
After keeping coy about the prospect of tax cuts, they now appear to be firmly on the table as Mr Hunt vows to “reject big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth, not more”.
But Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed the Tories were the party of “high tax”, adding: “Nothing the chancellor says or does in his autumn statement can change their appalling record.”
The hint of tax cuts comes after a Sky News poll of polls put the Tories 20 points behind Labour,
This is a worse margin than where Rishi Sunak was at the start of the autumn, when the Conservatives were an average of 18 points behind.
National insurance expected to be cut and national living wage increased
Among the key measures expected to be announced is a possible cut to national insurance contributions.
The government is also hoping to incentivise work by shaking up the welfare system and increasing the national living wage, which will rise from £10.42 to £11.44 from April and will benefit 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.
Mr Hunt is expected to say in his statement: “After a global pandemic and energy crisis, we have taken difficult decisions to put our economy back on track.
“We have supported families with rising bills, cut borrowing and halved inflation.
“The economy has grown. Real incomes have risen.
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Ahead of Wednesday’s autumn statement, Sky News’ Ed Conway says the chancellor needs to get the national debt falling.
“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.”
In total the chancellor is expected to announce 110 different growth measures for businesses, including plans to cut tax, remove planning red tape and speed up access to the national grid.
Meanwhile, there will also be support for entrepreneurs to raise capital policies to unlock foreign direct investment and to boost productivity.
“Taken together we will increase business investment in the UK economy by around £20bn a year over the next decade and get Britain growing,” Mr Hunt will say.
The chancellor is expected to take advantage of headroom in the public finances – created as a result of higher wages and the freeze in income tax thresholds – to reduce taxes while also sticking to his fiscal rules.
They dictate that the government should have debt falling in the fifth year of the economic forecast and that borrowing should be less than 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
In an interview with Sky News, former home secretary Dame Priti Patel expressed her desire to see tax cuts.
“This government has got the highest tax take in 70 years,” she said.
“I am an absolute advocate of making sure that hard-pressed taxpayers can keep more of their money. And you know, that is through tax cuts.
“And there are ways in which that can be achieved through targeted tax cuts, such as addressing the conundrum of fiscal drag where so many more people get dragged into the higher tax.”
Mr Hunt will also pledge to “reform welfare” in the autumn statement after already confirming a £2.5bn Back to Work plan, which aims to bring 1.1 million people back in the workforce.
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Measures in the plan including removing benefits such as free prescriptions and legal aid from job seekers who are judged not to be looking for work.
Ms 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.”
Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges as he appeared in court in London.
The British comedian and actor, from Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape as well as two counts of sexual assault.
The charges relate to alleged incidents involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.
The 49-year-old, who has been living in the US, was flanked by two officers as he pleaded not guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court today.
Russell Brand appears at Southwark Crown Court. Pic: Reuters
Brand stood completely still and looked straight ahead as he delivered his pleas.
The comedian, who has consistently denied having non-consensual sex since allegations were first aired two years ago, is due to stand trial in June 2026.
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Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Friday
He previously told his 11.2 million followers on X that he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence.
The allegations were first made in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023.
As Friday’s hearing finished, Brand replaced his sunglasses before exiting the dock and calmly walking past reporters.
Even as someone who has grown up in the public eye, Tom Daley has vulnerabilities and concerns to finally reveal.
The five-time Olympic medallist has an even greater perspective as the British diver who first competed at the Games aged 14 in 2008, who is now retired and a father of two.
Having grown up in the public eye when social media was still in its infancy, Daley is deeply troubled by the toxicity online, especially for someone with an opinion.
And the 31-year-old has spoken out from a young age – from LGBTQ+ rights to bullying and mental health – but he is ready to go further now.
“There’s lots of things I think we’ll look back on this last five, 10 years of human history as being quite shocking in a way,” Daley said in an interview with Sky News.
Tom Daley competing at Tokyo 2020. Pic: PA
“When social media came to prevalence – and cancel culture and people not being allowed to make any mistakes or be able to share too many opinions – it can be very scary and intimidating for certain groups of people.
“I think it definitely pits lots of people against each other and I think we always have to remember that we’re all in this together at the end of the day.
“And there’s so many more important things – being able to come together as one human race and I know that sounds very like hippie-dippie.
“But it really is as simple as that, about just being kind to each other.
“Where has that kindness and compassion gone because everybody feels like they have something to say about very small groups of people.”
(L-R) Tom Daley and Matty Lee celebrate winning gold in the Men’s Synchronised 10m Platform Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Pic: PA
A front row seat to LA 2028
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion revealed he was gay in 2013 and went on to marry Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.
They now live as a family in Los Angeles – the city hosting the 2028 Olympics.
Tom Daley and Noah Williams took silver at the Paris Olympics last year. Pic: PA
Having retired from diving after a final silver medal at Paris 2024, Daley will have a front row seat to the Games taking place in an America where Donald Trump has seemed to roll back LGBTQ+ protections early in his second presidential term.
“It is scary in some parts of the world how the rights of LGBT people are kind of being reversed or they’re being dangerously threatened,” Daley said when asked about Trump.
Tom Daley and his husband Dustin Lance Black at the Brit Awards 2023. Pic: AP
“It’s something again where minorities have to come together for the greater good because it is scary.
“And you may see someone else’s rights going away and I think it’s important that everybody, especially minorities, come together because it won’t just be one group that gets targeted.
“Once one group has been targeted, it will move on to the next, and the next, and the next.
“I think the most important thing is staying visible. I think lots of people ask, ‘What can you do to be an activist? What can you do to an advocate?’
“I think it’s being truly and authentically yourself. As long as you’re happy, your friends and family are happy, and you’re not hurting anyone else, then I think just being visible is a great form of activism.”
Donald Trump and his wife Melania at his election night rally on 6 November 2024. Pic: Reuters
Trump election victory was a ‘shock’
“For lots of people living in the West Coast bubble, it was like a bit of a shock when Trump won the election in November,” Daley said.
“But I think it’s also given everybody a wake-up call. I just always believe in leading with kindness, care and compassion and trying to make life worth living for every single person.”
Daley knows what it is like to feel targeted for abuse.
The sports star attends a screening in London for Tom Daley 1.6 Seconds. Pic: PA
In a new documentary featuring family video growing up, Tom Daley 1.6 Seconds, there is a sense of disbelief that he gave interviews as a child talking about being bullied in school after his Olympic debut at Beijing 2008.
“I never really saw it back then as something that was strange because it’s something that I had lived and grown up and just was part of how my life existed,” he said.
“But, looking back on it, I kind of was like, ‘Oh my gosh, imagine if it could have all been so different’.”
London 2012 poster boy
During the build-up to London 2012, Daley was the poster boy of the home Olympics.
But he was dealing with bulimia and body dysmorphia in private. It’s still difficult to talk about, knowing people would comment on how he seemed in great shape.
“But that’s not what an eating disorder is,” he said. “An eating disorder is not being able to think about your body, what you eat, what you put into your body rationally.
“And I think that’s something that people don’t necessarily understand with eating disorders, which is why going through that, I went through it alone.
“Because I was embarrassed to be thinking about those things. I didn’t think anybody would believe me.”
To this day, Daley feels people online are dismissive of his concerns. In interviews, he grates when it is pointed out that in retirement he is not fat.
“I’m constantly reminded of that,” he said. “So it’s definitely something that triggered the way that I think about my relationship with food.”
This is not to take away from how fondly Daley looks back on a career that saw him reach the pinnacle with Olympic gold in 2021 at the pandemic-delayed Olympics.
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There is no sign of coming out of retirement again as he did in Paris last year.
“I feel incredibly proud of what I’ve been able to achieve in terms of my perseverance and resilience through lots of different things,” he said. “I do miss being on that diving board.
“It is like there is no other feeling than being on top of a diving board in a competition where you’re putting all of the work that you put in into that 1.6 seconds and I think I will forever miss that.”
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