I'm proud that, since 2010, we've created 5.5 million apprenticeships Ess The difference between us we now know that the party-opposite want to halve the number of apprenticeships if they were in office meanwhile we want to make an apprentice education secretary. But our friend is right Labour's plan is to borrow £28 billion a year to just push up inflation. Ultimately they're salary and taxes undermining all the progress we've made on the economy. It's only the Conservatives that will give people the opportunity to build wealthier, more secure lives for them and their families. Can you equal the opposition, Keir Starmer? Thank you Mr Speaker. Like the Prime Minister, I know the whole House will welcome the agreement reached overnight.  Rwy'n dechrau bod y Gŵr Fllwgarr yng Nghymru yn sefydlu gan technol ond eto ar gyfer y cyfnodau rhan, a dywed. Rwy'n rhan i gael ei rhoi, rwy'n sio'n gweithio ar gyfer eisiau ddechau yr unrhyw hwn, yn ysgrifennu ym mhwylau i'r gwesteidau gwych ar yr awr i'r gamlau sy'n gyfer y gwaith ym mwynedd ym Mhwylod ym Mhwylodau Llywodraeth yn yr wyf. Mae'n dyfi i'r gwleidio'r gweithiau gyda'r cyfnod am f cherry-gwylltau. Brannangoddymaid wedi cerddw Barbie yng nghym��고chio'r bl têmerrfnwyr talkediraid ag Kel oczywiście i gyddsiedig ei wneud hynna ni nid bod i chi gyd yn ei ddweud yn ei linegol mewn awracheddiaeth not only in his new pledges, but just now is because 7.8 million people are currently on the waiting list. That's half a million more than when he pledged to bring them down nearly a year ago. The Prime Minister just claimed that this is all about economic growth, so let me ask him if a labourer or a care worker is forced to wait a year for an operation, how are they meant to help grow the economy? Mr Speaker, we're doing an enormous amount to bring waiting lists down. An enormous amount expanding patient choice, rolling out new community diagnostic centres, new surgical hubs, as well as putting more doctors and nurses in our ward. Well, I guess the question, Mr Speaker, is when he talks about targets and waiting lists, I really just hope that the Welsh Labour Government aren't listening. After 25 years in power they're missing every single one of his targets. Weren't they meant to be his blueprint? Mr Speaker, more than double the entire population of Wales are currently on a waiting list in England, who really needs to take some responsibility. On his watch, 2.5 million people are too sick to work, with the majority also suffering from mental health issues on top of his failures on waiting lists. Can he tell us how many people are waiting for mental health treatment? Mr Speaker, we've injected record sums to expand the number of mental health treatments in our country. I talked about the practical things that we are doing with CDCs and surgical hubs, but it doesn't also seem to realise that the union action that he fails to condam and that his Members of Parliament support from the picket lines have led to several hundred thousand cancelled appointments, all making waiting lists worse. He asked about Wales, but we can look at it. In Wales over 70,000 people are waiting over 18 months for treatment. Compared to in England, where thanks to our efforts we have virtually eliminated 18 months' wait. That's the difference between us, Mr Speaker. He wants to play politics, we get things done. So raising the waiting list by half a million is getting things done. He's true looking glass this one. I asked the Prime Minister how many people are waiting for mental health treatment. He knows the answer, he just doesn't want to give it. 1.2 million. 200,000 are children, some waiting nearly two years to be seen. Would the Prime Minister accept those kind of delays if it were one of his family or friends? Well, Mr Speaker, one of the key things we are doing to bring down waiting lists is to expand the access of patient choice. It's a very straightforward idea to make sure that patients can choose where they get treated and that way we will bring down waiting lists for mental health and other treatments far faster.  First, he promised, in his words, to ban NHS use of the independent sector. Then he said he wants more use of the independent sector. His shadow health secretary agreed with that, but then the deputy leader said that she would end it. As ever, you simply don't know what they stand for and you can't trust a word they say. As ever, no responsibility for the shocking state of the NHS. The truth is the Prime Minister would not accept those waits for his family and neither should anyone else. This morning I spoke to an NHS nurse. For many months, Cam struggled to find time to see her 14-year-old son, Mikey, until he became seriously unwell and now he hasn't been able to be in mainstream education for over a year. Mikey's mum is having to balance nursing with caring and being a parent. This isn't a one-off. There are families up and down the country in exactly the same situation. Working hard, trying to get through the cost of living crisis, whilst desperately worried about relatives who can't get the treatment they need. How does he think they feel when they see the Prime Minister refusing to take responsibility and boasting that everything is fine? We're doing absolutely everything we can to put money into the NHS to bring down the waiting list because I do want families up and down the country to have access to the healthcare that they need. He's absolutely right, they do deserve it, but then it is incredibly galling to hear this from someone who when there are strikes happening in our hospitals and people are being denied access to emergency medical care, not only does he not have the strength to condemn it, he refuses to back legislation that would guarantee all the families that he talked about. This is on his watch, it's his responsibility. Thirteen years in and all he's got to offer is trying to blame the opposition for his failures. Over and over again. I'll tell you what Mikey's mum said to me this morning, if you're so interested to hear. She said, and I'm going to quote her, she said, whatever spin the government puts on it, you can't hide the reality for ordinary working people. That's her words, worth reflecting on. Now, I'm glad that in recent years real progress has been made in tackling the stigma surrounding mental health, but the fact remains that the suicide rate for 15 to 19-year-olds has doubled since 2010 and suicide is now the biggest killer of men under 45. And they're not just statistics. Every single one is a tragic loss to families and to friends. Politics has the ability to turn this around. It means tough choices. If we were to scrap tax loopholes, we could have thousands more staff, more support in our schools, more support in our communities. That would allow us to treat patients on time, getting them back to work, back to their families and crucially giving them their lives back. This is about mental health. That's Labour's plan. Will he back it? Well, Mr Speaker, it was this government that for the first time in the NHS's history ensured that it had a long-term workforce plan, providing it with record funding so that we can eliminate long waits, but also ensuring that it has the money that it needs to train record numbers of doctors and nurses whilst radically reforming how they work to improve productivity, because the only way we will get everyone the treatment that they need is to make sure that the NHS has a fantastic staff that it needs and it's this government that has put that in place. It can look, because he talks about records, Mr Speaker, because this is something that no government has done in the past, or something I'm proud we've done. Labour's record on this issue is clear. It was a disastrous failure of workforce planning. And those weren't my words, Mr Speaker. Those was the verdict of the Labour-Chared Health Select Committee. It was Labour that did not train the consultants that we need now that take 13, 14, 15 or years to train. And it's this government that is for the first time making sure that every family will finally have the doctors and nurses that they need. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.  Whilst we need to build more houses, we need to ensure that they are available and affordable to local people and meet the needs of our rural and coastal communities. Now, local knowledge, particularly from elected representatives, is an important part in ensuring we achieve this. Yet the leader of the opposition has made clear that his intention is to ignore or override the views of local people in decisions on planning matters. Can the Prime Minister assure me and the people of Gormald that under his government the views of local communities will play a part in the planning process? I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent campaign on behalf of his constituents. I agree with him that housing must meet the needs of local communities and our affordable homes programme is delivering hundreds of thousands of homes across the country. Crucially, on this side of the house, we believe that local communities must be consulted in contrast to Labour's plan, which is top-down housing targets, concreting over the green belt and destroying our precious countryside. I thank the leader, Stephen Flynn. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think all of us in the Chamber are united in our relief reports that hostages are due to be released by Hamas in Gaza, but we can't afford to lose sight of what comes at the other side of the temporary pause in hostilities that we are about to see. At the end of four days, do we simply see the return to the killing of children in Gaza every 10 minutes, or do we choose in this house to instead back a permanent ceasefire? Mr Speaker, we do welcome the agreement reach overnight, and as I said, this is something that we have consistently pushed for and is a crucial first step as we try and resolve this situation and indeed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Of course, we want to see all hostages released as quickly as possible, including British nationals, but we would urge all parties involved to deliver the agreement in full. I would also like to put on record my thanks to Qatar for their important role and we will continue to work with the United States and Israel to ensure the safe return of hostages and maximise the opportunity of this temporary pause to step up aid to suffering civilians in Gaza. It is something that we have pushed for, we've continued to do, and the UK is playing a leading role in delivering. Mr Speaker, ultimately it's not a pause in the killing of children that we need, it is an end to the killing of children that we need, and I can think of no better time than now for the Prime Minister to advocate for that permanent ceasefire, but given that he won't currently do that, will he instead lay the foundations for that two-state solution by finally recognising the state of Palestine? Mr Speaker, actually what the agreement that has been reached demonstrates that it wasn't right to have a unilateral ceasefire and what was right was to do, as we have done, consistently push for a pause that would allow not just for aid to reach people in Gaza who desperately need it, but also for hostages to be released. That is what we have pushed for and I'm glad that that is now being delivered versus a unilateral ceasefire that has been put forward and boldened and strengthened in Hamas. Our position on the Middle East peace process more broadly is clear. We do support a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. I've spoken to President Abbas and met with him to discuss this issue and we are clear about strengthening the Palestinian Authority and re-envigorating efforts to find a two-state solution. Our long-standing position best serves the interests of peace. Very humble. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I welcome the Prime Minister's Network North project, which will see the full £1.7 billion put into the Midlands rail hub, which will reopen the central platforms at King's Norton train station, which have been derelict for so long? Can I ask him to bring forward the cash so we can increase capacity on the line and improve journey times? Can he look at my campaign to extend the new camp hill line to Longbridge, which will open up access to the new Longbridge business park, which he visited earlier in the year, which will be bringing back manufacturing jobs to Longbridge for the first time since MG collapsed in 2005? I am pleased that my noble friend's constituency will benefit from the decision on HS2 and benefit significantly from new Network North funding, an additional billion pounds to deliver the Midlands rail hub in full, and I know that decisions about King's Norton are due to be made later this year, which should be good news to him, and the extension of the forthcoming camp hill line services between Birmingham and King's Norton and Longbridge will be assessed in due course as well, so I hope that's helpful, and I'm sure the royal minister keeps him up-to-dated on progress. I'm sure the Prime Minister will join me and the communities that I represent in sending heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends grieving at the loss of four young men lost in a tragic accident in Carrackdon brothan this week. People in north Wales pay the highest standing charges on energy bills at £340 a year. That's a third more than London. That's despite having lower average incomes and people there living in older, poorly insulated houses. With a further increase in standing charges due next April, he must recognise that he can't leave this to up off-gem. Will his Government therefore tackle unfair standing charges and that before winter sets in? Mr Speaker, we have provided an extraordinary package of support for households across the country to help with energy bills, totaling almost £100 billion over the past year or two. The off-gem price gap has also fallen to around £1,800 currently, and our price guarantee will remain in place till spring of next year, which will provide further protection for families. Crucially, the Chancellor announced previously that we have removed the premium paid by households using prepayment metres until the EPG ends, bringing their costs into line with those paid by comparable direct debit customers, and we continue to provide considerable support for vulnerable families throughout the winter with their energy bills. Mr Speaker, setting strategic aims for the Middle East requires us to be precise about the terms we use, and that includes the word peace. Peace is not just the absence of war or conflict, but the freedom from the fear of conflict or oppression or terror. Peace requires mutual respect, freedom from persecution and living without fear of destitution. It comes with self-determination and liberation from arbitrary justice. It needs hope and dignity and enforceable rights. Does my right hon. Friend agree that only when all the people of the Middle East can achieve all of these things can any of us talk about having achieved peace? Well, I agree wholeheartedly with my right hon. Friend and thank him for what he says, and I know his advice will continue to be a value to the government as we find a way for a peaceful, more secure future for everyone living in the region. Patricia Gibson. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Scottish surcharge on energy according to Ofgem means that people in Scotland pay 50% more charges than Londoners, despite exporting 3.2 million hours of electricity to England in the last two months alone. Meanwhile, Scottish green energy producers pay higher charges than English power companies to connect to the grid. Does the Prime Minister think that this is fair to Scotland's consumers and businesses? Mr Speaker, I referred to my previous answer about the considerable support that we're providing to families across the United Kingdom with their energy bills, and actually what would be good, she mentioned Scottish businesses, what would be good is if the SNP realised that they should support the 200,000 people employed in Scotland's North Sea oil and gas industry. Kevin Foster. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The latest film from Torquys Unleashed Theatre Company, Three Steps, outlines the impact of homelessness. What further steps does the government plan to take in order to ensure everyone has a place of their own? I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the important work of his local theatre company Unleashed, and I wish them well in their future endeavours. We are investing an unprecedented £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including building thousands of move-on homes and implementing our Landmark Homelessness Reduction Act, which has already prevented or relieved almost 600,000 households from suffering from homelessness. That's good enough. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Why are 34% of children in my constituency living in poverty? Mr Speaker, it's this government that has ensured that across our country 1.7 million fewer people are living in poverty as a result of the actions of this government. Yes, that is true, Mr Speaker. Not only that, hundreds of thousands fewer children are living in poverty and income inequality as at a lower level than we inherited from the party opposite. But, Mr Speaker, we don't want any child to grow up in poverty, and the best way to make sure that that happens is to ensure that they do not grow up in a workless household. That is why the right strategy is to ensure that we provide as many children with opportunity to grow up with parents in work and because of the actions of previous governments several hundred thousand more families are in poverty. Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is vital that individuals of any age can train and retrain for good local jobs, further education and skills opportunities that are available. Will the Prime Minister work with me in my campaign to establish an apprenticeship hub in Brockstone? Thank you. Thank my hon. Friend for all his campaigning on this important issue. We have delivered over 9,000 apprenticeships in his constituency of great local businesses, including some that I visited as Chancellor like Heron and Heron Beauty from memory. But while we continue to invest in apprenticeships, we know the party opposite now want to halve that number, and that is the difference between us. Whilst on this side of the house we want to give people a hand up, all Labour want to do is keep them in their place. Thank you, Mr Speaker. With 316 arrivals by small boat this week, last week Supreme Court ruling on Rwanda has left this government's lack of a compassionate and functioning asylum system totally exposed with refugees suffering as a result and chaos at our borders. So could I ask the Prime Minister yes or no, does he now intend to disapply human rights laws in order to continue wasting time and money on this cruel and discredited gimmick? Mr Speaker, I'm glad the hon. Gentleman mentioned the small boats arrivals. I'm pleased to tell him that thanks to the actions of this government the number of arrivals are down by over 33% so far this year. No thanks to the party opposite that has opposed each and every single measure we have taken to stop the boats. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Whilst the Labour leadership at Kirkleys Council are looking to close Colm Valley Leisure Centre high-cup car parking charges and being criticised by their auditors for the way in which they manage their resources there has been lots of good news for my bit of Yorkshire this week £64 million of levelling up cash for Huddersfield Market and the Peniston Rail Line Upgrade and the West Yorkshire Investment Zone focusing on the national health innovation campus at the University of Huddersfield will the Prime Minister continue to invest in West Yorkshire and come and see some of these fantastic Prime Minister Mr Speaker, what great news what great news I was delighted to hear that the third investment zone was announced in West Yorkshire and indeed money for the Peniston Line Rail Upgrade and regeneration funding for Huddersfield Open Market but my hon. Friend is right though that the Turkish Council is not investing in closing things it's this Conservative Government that is backing communities across the north On Monday the Government's chief scientific advisor Patrick Balans told the Covid inquiry that the now Prime Minister had not asked for advice regarding Eat Out to help out but on the 9th of March two years ago the Prime Minister told this House that and I quote Mr Speaker, as he knows there is an ongoing statutory inquiry into Covid it's absolutely right that that process is followed I look forward to providing my own evidence in the coming weeks and addressing all these questions but it was the case that the Government took advice from scientific advisors and again that's exactly what this inquiry will go over Mr Speaker since I recently shared my own experience of birth trauma in this Chamber I've been inundated with mums writing to me from across the UK to share their stories I received a concerning email last week from a Staffordshire mother who'd like me to raise her concerns about Royal Stoke University Hospital she also experienced birth trauma and has been told that due to the time elapsed they will not be able to investigate her concerns it is not acceptable to me that my constituents are not having complaints investigated by my local hospital so can I ask the Prime Minister to urgently meet with me to discuss this and can I also ask him to include birth trauma in the refreshed update the women's health strategy we must do better to provide aftercare to all mothers in this country Can I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue and for condemning to be a fantastic campaigner I'm pleased that the first ever debate in Parliament on birth trauma was held recently in October it was powerful, it was moving and it highlighted just what a significant impact birth trauma can have on so many women's lives the Department of Health are working with NHS England to make sure that we can improve maternity care and making sure that mental health care is also improved to deal with this and I will ensure that the Health Secretary meets the honourable friend so that we can ensure that we get this right Mr Speaker in the last 13 years the six oil and gas licensing rounds by the Tories have produced only 16 days worth of oil and gas for the UK Can the Prime Minister explain how doubling the number of licensing rounds will have any impact on the insanely high energy bills my constituents are facing if he cared about energy security jobs or the environment he would surely be better matching the Scottish Government's investment in a just transition and providing a £400 rebate to bill payers Mr Speaker not £500 million we're investing tens of billions of pounds in the energy transition, not least with things like carbon capture and storage which the North Sea can play a starring role in but it's just completely wrong in order to have energy security it's right to exploit the resources that we have here at home even the independent committee for climate change still need oil and gas as we make the transition and in decades time so the question from the normal lady is are we better off getting that here at home supporting Scottish jobs and businesses or are we better off putting that money in the hands of foreign dictators and shipping it here with two or three times the carbon emissions Mr Speaker thank you Mr Speaker today I'm hosting 14 Ukrainian teenage children here in the House of Commons whose parents have been are fighting the Russians in Ukraine six of them have been orphaned they are up in the gallery but they will also be in the IPU room from 1 till 2.30 this afternoon so I know it's a busy and important day but all colleagues are welcome to drop by if they are able so will the Prime Minister join me in paying tribute to the parents of these children and take this opportunity to reiterate our steadfast support for the people of Ukraine in their fight for their independence their freedom and their nation's survival well I do join my noble friend in paying tribute to the parents of these children and many others but also to take the opportunity to say that whilst events in the Middle East have been dominating the headlines I can assure my noble friend that we and our allies are steadfast in our resolve to support Ukraine for as long as it takes for them to achieve victory and that's why the Foreign Secretary visited both Kiev and Odessa last week confirm the UK's continued unwavering support for the Ukraine but in cannot hope to outlast the incredible resolve or spirit of the Ukrainian people and they should continue to have our support for as long as it takes a few weeks ago the world cringed at the Prime Minister's forenning welcome for Elon Musk and this week advertisers are fleeing fleeing Musk's platform after his latest vial outburst so what exactly did the Prime Minister think he might learn from an unelected super rich individual who had taken over a once successful organisation and plunged it into a death spiral Mr Speaker it is striking from the honourable member from Cambridge of all places of Cambridge of all places to absolutely not understand the importance of technology sectors and companies to the growth of our economy absolutely extraordinary that is wrong with Labour's approach to our economy Mr Speaker what the rest of the world saw was the UK playing a lead in defining the regulations and approach to a technology that is going to transform how we live it was a great example of the UK leading the way an enormous tribute to our incredible entrepreneurs and businesses many of which are being poorly represented by him and his constituents It is red Wednesday when we remember millions of Christians far and wide persecuted for their faith people like Margaret Atta a nurse, a lovely young mother of four here today from Nigeria who hid behind the altar as her church service was attacked 100 were injured 41 killed that day simply for being in church Margaret lost both legs and an eye and thousands more suffer similarly in Nigeria each year Prime Minister agree that the best way we could honour red Wednesday today is to commit to quickly implementing the good words of the new international development white paper published yesterday to ensure UK development policies going forward are inclusive of those marginalised for their religion or beliefs Prime Minister Can I thank honourable friend for her continuing dedication as my special envoy for this vital issue Red Wednesday is an important moment to demonstrate our solidarity with Christians and all those persecuted around the world for their religion or belief and marking this event annually was just one of the recommendations and the bishops report and I'm pleased that today we will light up FCDO buildings in the UK in red in support and I'm also pleased to say that we've taken forward all 22 recommendations in a way that we believe is making a real change for those persecuted for their religion or belief That completes Prime Minister's questions Before I call the Chancellor it may help the House if I set out how proceedings on the autumn statement will unfold Once the Chancellor has delivered his statement copies of the resolutions relating to the statement will be made available in the vote office and online I will then call the Shutter Chancellor another unruled member to ask questions It will follow the usual pattern for a ministerial statement At the end of questions on the statement the Chancellor will be called to move a motion on the section 5 of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968 The question on this motion must be put without debate We will then proceed to do the debate on the autumn statement resolutions and minister will move the first of the resolutions and open the debate Debate will take place over 30 days concluding on Monday At the end of the debate on Monday the question on the first of the resolutions will be disposed of and the questions on the remaining resolutions will then be taken formally without further debate I now call the Chancellor to make the autumn statement Mr Speaker I come today with good news it's my wife's birthday and unlike me she's looking younger every year I turn to the statement after a global pandemic and energy crisis we have taken difficult decisions to put our economy back on track we've supported families with rising bills cut borrowing and halved inflation rather than a recession the economy has grown rather than falling as predicted real incomes have risen our plan for the British economy is working but the work is not done others proposed a more short term approach but we have not made unaffordable pay offers to the unions we have not stopped new oil and gas exploration and we have not increased borrowing by 28 billion pounds a year that would have pushed inflation up just when we need to bring it down instead under this Prime Minister to make decisions for the long term in today's autumn statement for growth our choice is not big government high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth not more instead we reduce debt cut taxes and reward work we deliver world class education we build domestic sustainable energy and we back British business with 110 growth measures don't worry I'm not going to go through them all but I will if you like but in summary they remove planning red tape they speed up access to the national grid they support entrepreneurs raising capital they get behind our fastest growing industries they unlock foreign direct investment they boost productivity they reform welfare they give opportunity to every corner of the country and they cut business taxes the office for budget responsibility say that the combined impact of these measures will raise business investment get more people into work reduce inflation next year and increase GDP but conservatives also know that a dynamic economy depends on the energy and enterprise of people more than any dictats or decisions by ministers so today's measures do not just remove barriers to investment they reward effort and work now I'll go through the measures in three parts in the first I'll use updated OBR forecasts to show the progress we're making against the Prime Minister's economic priorities the second part sets out growth measures to back British business finally I conclude with measures to make progress before I start with the forecasts I want to express my horror at the murderous attack on Israeli citizens on October 7 and the subsequent loss of life on both sides I will remember for the rest of my life as I know many other honourable members will being taken to Auschwitz by Rabbi Barry Marcus and the remarkable Holocaust Educational Trust but I'm deeply concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism in our country so I'm announcing up to 7 million pounds over the next three years for organisations like the Holocaust Education Trust to tackle anti-Semitism in schools and universities I will also repeat the 3 million pound uplift to the community security trust when it comes to anti-Semitism at all forms of racism we must never allow the clock to be turned back I now move on to the OBR's economic and fiscal forecasts and I thank Richard Hughes and his team for their sterling work in preparing them three of my right and wrong friends the Prime Minister's five pledges at the start of the year were economic to hard inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt today I can report to the House that we are delivering on all three let's start with inflation now the Shadow Chancellor didn't mention it in her conference speech my conference speech was before hers so all she had to do was a bit of copying and pasting which I've heard but it speaks volumes that during the worst global inflation shock for a generation it didn't even get a mention well if controlling inflation isn't a priority for Labour it is for us when the Prime Minister and I took office inflation was 11.1% last week it fell to 4.6% we promised to halve inflation and we have halved it core inflation is now lower than in nearly half the economies in the EU and the OBR say that headline inflation will fall to 2.8% by the end of 2024 before falling to the 2% target in 2025 I will not take risks with inflation and the OBR confirm that the measures I take today make inflation lower next year than it would otherwise have been I thank the independent bank of England monetary policy committee for their crucial role in bringing inflation down and we will continue to back them to do whatever it takes until the job is done but as we do we have brought families in difficulty and today I add four further measures to help with the cost of living firstly for those on the lowest incomes I understand the concerns some have about the effect on work incentives of matching benefit increases to inflation I know there's been some speculation that we would increase benefits next year by the lower October figure for inflation but cost of living pressures remain at their most acute families so instead the government has decided to increase universal credit and other benefits from next April by 6.7% in line with September's inflation figure an average increase of £470 for 5.5 million households next year vital support to those on the very lowest incomes from a compassionate Conservative government second because rent can constitute more than half the living costs of private renters on the lowest incomes I've listened closely to many colleagues as well as the Institute for Fiscal Studies the Resolution Foundation, Citizens Advice UK and the Joseph Roundtree Foundation who said that unfreezing the local housing allowance was an urgent priority I will therefore increase the local housing allowance rate to the 30th percentile of local market housing allowance this will give 1.6 million households an average of £800 of support next year third although I'm going to increase duty on hand rolling tobacco by an additional 10% above the tobacco duty escalator I know that for many people going to the pub has become more expensive I've listened closely to the persuasive arguments on alcohol duties for my honourable friend John Murray and my right honourable friend for Dumfrieshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale the fierce champions of the Scotch whiskey industry I've also listened to defenders of the great British pint such as my right honourable friends for the Vale of Glamorgan and Buckingham in my own constituency to councillor Jane Austen who is a big supporter of the Jolly Farmer pub in Bramley and indeed to the Sun newspaper so as well as confirming our Brexit pub's guarantee which means the duty on a pint is always lower than in the shops I have decided to freeze all alcohol duty until August 1 next year that means no increase in duty on beer, cider, wine or spirits Finally, pensions the triple lock has helped lift 250,000 older people out of poverty since it was instituted by a Conservative Government in 2011 it's been a lifeline for many during a period of high inflation there have been reports that we would rate it by a lower amount to smooth out the effect of high public sector bonuses in July but that would have been particularly difficult for one million pensioners whose only income is from the state so instead today is our commitment to the triple lock in full from April 24 we will increase the full new state pension by 8.5% to £221.20 a week worth up to £900 more a year this is one of the largest ever cash increases to the state pension showing a Conservative Government will always back our pensioners including today's measures our total commitment easing cost of living pressures has risen to £104 billion that includes paying around half the cost of the average energy bill since last October an amounts now to an average of £3,700 per household we are able to do that only because we reduced the deficit by 80% ahead of the pandemic which the party opposite might reflect on every step of the way next I turn to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's pledge to reduce debt before I took difficult decisions in last year's autumn statement debt was predicted to rise to almost 100% of GDP by the end of the forecast since then the economy has outperformed expectations and I've taken difficult decisions to reduce borrowing as a result headline debt is now predicted to be 94% of GDP by the end of the forecast the OBR today forecast underlying debt will be 91.6% of GDP next year 92.7% in 24.5% 93.2% in 26.7% before declining in the final two years of the forecast 92.8% in 28.29% that is lower in every year compared to forecasts we therefore meet our fiscal rule to have underlying debt falling as a percentage of GDP in the final year of the forecast with double the headroom compared to the OBR's March forecast and we will continue to have the second lowest government debt in the G7 lower than the United States, Canada, France, Italy or Japan I turn to borrowing the right hon. Lady opposite said when it comes to borrowing we will take it up to £28 billion a year take it up Mr Speaker indeed she has opposed every decision we have made to reduce our borrowing but Mr Speaker this side of the house will bring borrowing down because as the late Lord Lawson said borrowing is just a deferred tax on future generations now I see I see the leader of the opposition shaking his head in fact we do have something in common both he and I wanted to make a Jeremy prime minister fairness his party of mine are probably equally relieved we failed but whereas this Jeremy is growing the economy his Jeremy would have crashed it and the numbers and the numbers show the contrast according to the OBR borrowing is lower this year and next and on average across the forecast by 0.7 billion every year compared to the spring budget forecast it falls from 4.5% of GDP in 234 to 3% 2.7% 2.3% 1.6% and 1.1% in 28 29 that means we also meet our second fiscal rule the public sector borrowing must be below 3% of GDP not just by the final year just every year of the forecast some of this improvement is from higher tax receipts from a stronger economy but we also maintain a disciplined approach to public spending as I set out in the spring budget resource spending will increase by 1% a year from 25 6 in real terms and we are sustaining the record 2020 increase in capital spending in cash terms until the end of the forecast within this we will meet our NATO commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence critical at a time of global threats to the international order most notably from Putin's evil war in Ukraine we also support a group of people to whom we owe our freedom our brave veterans I will extend national insurance relief for employers of eligible veterans for a further year and provide 10 million pounds to places, pathways and people program and I thank our excellent veterans minister for his championing of their course we have shown that we are prepared to increase funding for vital public services with record numbers of police officers doctors, nurses and teachers we are nearly doubling the numbers of doctors and nurses we train having given the NHS its first ever long term workforce plan as I promise to do a year ago we are also tackling the biggest single preventable cause of mortality the NHS has to deal with by bringing forward plans for a smoke free generation but alongside extra funding and support we need to see reform we need a more productive state not a bigger state and that is why I want the public sector to increase productivity growth by at least half a percent a year the level at which the size of our state starts to reduce as a proportion of GDP I've already announced plans to cap and reduce the size of the civil service to pre-pandemic levels today I pay tribute to my friend the former chief secretary of the treasury the right honourable member for Salisbury who started our brilliant public sector productivity program it will now be pursued by his formidable successor the right honourable member for Seven Oaks who has already been with me to meet police, fire and ambulance personnel to understand why bureaucracy is holding them back and through this vital work we will ensure that over time the growth in public spending is lower than the growth in the economy whilst always protecting the services the public value and I will also provide HMRC the resources they need to ensure everyone pays the tax they owe raising an additional £5 billion across the forecast period my right honourable friend also promised to grow the economy since 2010 despite inheriting what was then the worst recession since the second world war conservative administrations have presided over faster growth than many of our major competitors including Spain, Italy, France well they don't like to hear this but let me tell them the list Spain, Portugal, France Italy, Netherlands Austria, Germany, Japan we've grown faster than all of them since Freddie 10 all those countries have faced a pandemic and an energy shock and as a result last autumn the OBR forecast a recession in which the economy was forecast to shrink by 1.4% this year instead it grew in fact it's grown faster in the Euro area revised numbers from the ONS now say the economy is 1.8% larger than pre-pandemic and looking ahead the OBR expects the economy to grow by 0.6% this year and 0.7% next after that growth rises to 1.4% in 25 then 1.9%, 2% and 1.7% in 28 if we want those numbers to be higher we need higher productivity the private sector is more productive in countries like the United States, Germany and France because it invests more on average 2% more of GDP every year the 110 measures I take today help close that gap by boosting business investment by £20 billion a year they do not involve borrowing more and ramping up debt instead they unlock investment with supply side reforms that back British business in the following areas first skills no economy can prosper without investing in the potential of its people despite strong opposition we took difficult decisions to reform our schools England's 9 to 10 year olds are 4th best readers in the world and since 2015 our 15 to 16 year olds have risen 7 places in the OECD rankings for maths not least thanks to the effort of the brilliant right honourable member for Bognoregis but 9 million adults in England still have low basic literacy or numeracy skills so last month the Prime Minister set out the new advanced British standard to ensure all school leavers reach minimum standards in maths and English and while the party opposite wants to reduce the number of apprentices we want to increase them so following engagement with Make UK and others I'm announcing a further £50 million of funding over the next two years to pilot ways to increase the number of apprentices in engineering and other key growth sectors where there are shortages next planning it takes too long there's 110 of these measures so just be patient folks I move on to planning it takes too long to approve infrastructure projects and business planning applications many businesses say they will be willing to pay more if they knew their application would be approved faster so from next year working with the community secretary I will reform the system to allow local authorities to recover the full costs of major business planning applications in return for being required to meet guaranteed faster timelines if they fail fees will be refunded automatically with the application being processed free of charge a prompt service or your money back just as will be the case in the private sector now many planning applications are for house building the leader of the opposition told us he wanted to be a builder not a blocker it didn't last long just a few months later Labour blocked reforms to the rules on nutrient neutrality shamelessly preventing 100,000 houses from being built Conservatives on the other hand are the builders with more homes being completed in 2122 and any single year of the last Labour Government and today we take further decisions to unlock the building of more homes we'll invest £110 million over this year and next to deliver high quality nutrient mitigation schemes unlocking 40,000 homes we'll invest £32 million to bust the planning, backlog and develop fantastic new housing quarters in Cambridge, London and Leeds which will lead to many thousands of additional dwellings we'll allocate £450 million to the local authority housing fund to deliver 2,400 new homes and we'll consult on a new permitted development right to allow any house to be converted into two flats provided the exterior remains unaffected it's also taking too long for clean energy businesses to access the electricity grid so after talking to businesses such as National Grid, Octopus Energy and SSE we today publish our full response to the Windsor review and Connections action plan these measures will cut grid access delays by 90% and offer up to £10,000 of electricity bills over 10 years for those living closest to new transmission infrastructure taking together these planning and grid reforms are estimated to accelerate around £90 billion of additional business investment over the next 10 years next foreign direct investment I'm extremely grateful to Lord Harrington for his excellent report on how to increase foreign direct investment we accept all his headline recommendations and in particular we'll put in place a concierge service for large international investors modelled on the best such services offered by our competitors and we'll increase funding for the office to deliver it I now turn to reforms to pension funds that will increase the flow of capital going to our most promising growth companies in a way that also improves outcomes for savers I'll take forward my mansion house reforms starting with measures to consolidate the industry by 2030 the majority of workplace DC savers will have their pension pots managed schemes over £30 billion and by 2040 all local government pension funds will be invested in pools of £200 billion or more I'll support the establishment of investment vehicles for pension funds to use including through the lifts competition a new growth fund run by the British business bank and opening the PPF as an investment vehicle for smaller DB pension schemes I will also consult on giving savers a legal right to require a new employer to pay pension contributions into their existing pension pot if they choose meaning people can move to having one pension pot for life these reforms could unlock an extra £75 billion of financing for high growth companies by 2030 and provide an extra £1,000 a year in retirement for an average earner saving from 18 alongside this I'm also proposing further capital market reforms to boost the attractiveness of our markets and make sure the UK remains one of the most attractive places to start, grow and list a company and as part of this I will explore options for a NatWest retail share offer in the next 12 months subject to market conditions and achieving value for money it's time to get CID investing again next I move on to measures to support our most innovative industries in the last decade under conservatives we have grown to become the third largest technology sector in the world double the size of Germany three times the size of France the biggest life science industry in Europe Europe's third largest generator electricity after Germany and Norway and the eighth largest manufacturer in the world when it comes to tech we know that AI will be at the heart of any future growth I want to make sure our universities scientists and start-ups can access the compute power they need so building on the success of the supercomputing centres in Edinburgh and Bristol I'll invest a further £500 million over the next two years to run further innovation centres to help make us an AI powerhouse our creative industries already support Europe's largest film and TV sector this year's all-Californian blockbuster Barbie was filmed in the constituency of the honourable member for Watford where of course the sun always shines I know that even more could be invested in visual effects if we increase the generosity of the film and high-end TV tax credits so I'll today launch a call for evidence on how to make that happen British discovered vaccines and treatments saved more lives across the world during the pandemic than those from any other country and I'm incredibly proud of our life sciences industry to further support research and development I'm creating a new simplified R&D tax relief combining the existing R&D expenditure credit and SME schemes I'll also reduce the rate at which loss-making companies are taxed within the merge scheme from 25% to 19% and lower the threshold for the additional support for R&D intensive loss-making SMEs that I announced in the spring to 30% benefitting a further 5,000 SMEs and because 2028 marks the centenary of the invention of penicillin by Alexander Fleming I'm giving £5 million to Imperial College and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to set up a Fleming centre to inspire the next generation of world-changing innovations for our advanced manufacturing and green energy sectors International investors say the biggest thing we could do is to announce a longer-term strategy for their industries so with the Secretary's estate for business and trade and energy security and net zero I'm today publishing those plans I confirm that we'll make available £4.5 billion of support over the 5 years to 2030 to attract investment into strategic manufacturing sectors That includes support of £2 billion for zero emission investments in the automotive sector something that's been warmly welcomed by Nissan and Toyota £975 million for building on decades of success from firms like Airbus and Rolls-Royce and £520 million for life sciences to build on the strength of world-class British farmer companies like AstraZeneca and GSK We'll also provide £960 million for the new green industries growth accelerator focused on offshore wind electricity networks nuclear CCUS and hydrogen These targeted investments will ensure the UK remains competitive in sectors where we're already leaders and innovative in sectors where we're not and taken together across our fastest growing innovation sectors this support will attract an estimated £2 billion of additional investment every year over the next decade One of the reasons we support our manufacturing and clean energy sectors is they help to level up growth across the United Kingdom So I now turn to further levelling up measures In the spring I announced we delivered 12 new investment zones 12 mini canary wolves where government industry and research institutes collaborate across the UK Since then the Exchequer Secretary the Honourable Member for Grantham and Stamford has done outstanding work across government to bring this vision to fruition Following tenacious representations by the Honourable Member for Ines Mon without whom a mention would mean that no chance for the speech was complete and representations from the unstoppable Mayor of Tees Valley I have today decided to extend the financial incentives for investment zones and the tax reliefs for free ports from five years to ten years I will also set up a 150 million pound investment opportunity fund to catalyse investment into the programme On Monday I confirmed a new investment zone in West Yorkshire Today having listened to representations from the West Midlands Salesman in Chief Andy Street as well as the Honourable Member for Mansfield and the Honourable Member for Berry North I am announcing three further investment zones focused on advanced manufacturing in the West Midlands, East Midlands and Greater Manchester Together local partners expect these will help catalyse over 3 billion pounds of private investment and 65,000 new jobs Having listened to the Honourable Member for Wrexham and the Honourable Member for Clwyd South I can announce a second investment zone in Wales in the fantastic region of Wrexham and Flintshire which I will visit tomorrow We are publishing new devolution deals with four areas including Holland, East Yorkshire and offering devolved powers to even more county areas One of those areas will be the leafiest and most charming county in the country, namely Surrey where of course the leader of the opposition grew up We don't get everything right On Monday we saw the announcement of £1 billion of funding through round three of the levelling up fund supporting projects following the campaigning efforts of the members for Keithley, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Scunthor and of course Mr Speaker, Chawley I can also confirm that we will proceed with over £50 million of funding for high quality regeneration projects in communities such as Bolsover, Monmouthshire Warrington and Eden Valley all of which have particularly effective local MPs as their champions and because we are proudly the Conservative and Unionist party I'm announcing £80 million for the new levelling up partnerships in Scotland £500,000 to support the Hay Festival in Wales and £3 million of additional funding to support the successful tackling paramilitarism programme Next, small business I ran my own one for 14 years and I've always known that every big business was a small business once The Federation of Small Businesses say the biggest thing I could do to help their members is end the scourge of late payments The Procurement Act we've passed means that the 30 day payment terms which are already set for public sector contracts will automatically apply throughout the subcontract supply chain but from April 24 I'll also introduce a condition that any company bidding for large government contracts should demonstrate they pay their own invoices within an average of 55 days which will reduce progressively to 30 days Any small business will also tell you the biggest frustration they have is the tax you pay before making a penny of profit not least business rates The government has already taken a third of properties out of rates completely through small business rates relief We've frozen the tax rate for the last three years at a cost of £14.5 billion We've removed downwards caps from transitional relief and for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses we've introduced a one year 75% discount on business rates up to £110,000 and those measures have saved the average independent shop over £20,000 It's not possible to continue with temporary support measures forever but whilst the standard multiplier which applies to high value properties will rise in line with inflation I have today decided that we will freeze the small business multiplier for a further year and following extensive discussions With the FSB and many colleagues in this House I've also decided to extend the 75% business rates discount for retail, hospitality and leisure for another year This will save the average independent pub over £12,800 next year and at a cost of £4.3 billion is a large tax cut which recognises the role of pubs in our communities I thank the members for Stockton South Barrow and Furness and East Devon for their tenacious campaigning on this issue and finally I turn to the smallest of all businesses those run by the self-employed These are the people who literally kept our country running during the pandemic The plumbers who fixed our boilers in lockdowns the delivery drivers who bought us our shopping the farmers who kept food on our plates as part of our plans to grow the economy I want to reform and simplify taxes paid by the self-employed So today I'm announcing a major reform of one of those taxes It's one most people haven't heard of but it's a big deal for those who have to pay it Class 2 national insurance is a flat rate and a salary charge currently £3.45 a week paid by self-employed people earning more than £12,570 which gives state pension entitlement Today after careful consideration and in recognition of the contribution made by self-employed people to our country I can announce that we are abolishing class 2 national insurance all together Saving the average of self-employed person £192 a year Access to entitlements and credits will be maintained in full and those who choose to pay voluntarily will still be able to do so but this change simplifies and cuts tax for nearly 2 million self-employed people whilst protecting the interest of those on the lowest pay and because we value their work I'm taking one further stack of self-employed They also played class 4 national insurance at 9% on all earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 Today I've decided to cut that tax by 1% to 8% from April Taken together with the abolition of the compulsory class 2 charge these reforms will save around 2 million self-employed people an average of £350 a year from April Mr Speaker, we're backing small business by freezing their business rates extending retail hospitality and leisure relief abolishing compulsory class 2 national insurance payments and reducing class 4 national insurance by 1% in today's autumn statement for growth small businesses work so hard for us and a Conservative Government today is working hard for them I turn now to my final measure to back British business Mr Speaker As I said, since 2010 we have seen the second highest growth in investment of any G7 country However, if we're to raise productivity we need to increase business investment further In 2021 my right honourable friend the Prime Minister introduced the super deduction for large businesses to further stimulate business investment this spring I introduced full expensing for 3 years this means that for every million pounds a company invests they get 250,000 pounds off their tax bill in the very same year the CBI Make UK, the BCC Energy UK and 200 other business leaders from companies including BT Open Reach, Siemens and Bosch said that making this measure permanent would be the single most transformational thing I could do for business investment and growth The centre for policy studies say it would maximise business investment, boost productivity and deliver higher levels of GDP but because it costs 11 billion pounds a year I made clear that I would only do so when it was affordable with inflation halved borrowing down and debt falling today I deliver on that promise I will today I will today make full expensing permanent that is the largest business tax cut in modern British history it means we have not just the lowest headline corporation tax rate in the G7 but it's most generous capital allowances the OBR say this will increase annual investment around £3 billion a year and a total of £14 billion over the forecast period we know on this side of the house the way to back British business is not to borrow more or subsidise more but to increase the incentives to invest and we do that today by introducing one of the most generous tax reliefs anywhere in the world a huge boost to British competitiveness in an autumn statement for growth skills planning infrastructure reform pension fund reform support for innovation industries levelling up backing small businesses and full expensing under labour business investment was 9.3% of GDP in real terms since 2010 it's been 9.8% of GDP but today we go further because taken together the overall impact of today's growth measures will be to increase business investment in the UK economy by around £20 billion a year within the decade nearly 1% of GDP at today's level this is the biggest ever boost for business investment in modern times a decisive step towards closing the productivity gap with other major economies and the most effective way we can raise wages and living standards for every family in the country now as well as backing business Conservatives know you need to back the people without whose effort no business can succeed the entrepreneur taking risks the builder working weekends the nurse working nights and the jobseeker leaving benefits behind I therefore conclude with three further supply side reforms designed to improve the incentives to work in a modern dynamic economy with welfare and I want to start by thanking the outstanding work and pension secretary for his help in developing these reforms he builds on the work of my right honourable friend for Chingford and Woodford Green who introduced universal credit those reforms helped reduce unemployment which has fallen by over a million but to their shame the party opposite voted against them 30 times because they think compassion is about giving money we think it's about giving opportunity but post pandemic we still have over seven million adults of working age excluding students who are not working despite one million vacancies in the economy many can and want to work but our system makes that too hard in the spring budget I announced 30 hours of free child care for working parents that plan still opposed by the party opposite starts rolling out in April it will help tens of thousands of parents return to work without having to worry about damaging their career prospects today we focus on helping those with sickness or disability and the long term unemployed every year we sign off over 100,000 people on to benefits with no requirement to look for work because of sickness or disability that waste of potential is wrong economically and wrong morally so with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions last week I announced our back to work plan we will reform the fit note process so that treatment rather than time off becomes the default we'll reform the work capability assessment to reflect greater flexibility and availability of home working after the pandemic and we'll spend 1.3 billion pounds over the next five years to help nearly 700,000 people with health conditions find jobs over 180,000 more people will be helped through the universal support programme and nearly 500,000 more people will be offered treatment for mental health conditions and employment support over the forecast period the OBR judge these measures will more than halve the flow of people who are signed off work with no work search requirements at the same time we'll provide a further 1.3 billion of funding to offer extra help to the 300,000 people who have been unemployed for over a year without any sickness or disability but we will ask for something in return if after 18 months of intensive support job seekers have not found a job we'll roll out a programme requiring them to take part in mandatory work placement to increase their skills and improve their employability and if they choose not to engage with the work search process for six months we will close their case and stop their benefits taken together taken together taken together with the labour supply measures I announced in the spring the OBR say increase the number of people in work by around 200,000 at the end of the forecast period permanently increasing the size of the economy now I know that some on the benches opposite would prefer to fill those vacancies in a different way they hanker after a more liberal immigration regime or even dream of bringing back free movement but conservatives say we should unlock the potential we have right here at home and we do that with the biggest set of welfare reforms in a decade in today's autumn statement for growth now Mr Speaker if we're to incentivise work we must also tackle low pay people who get up early put in the hours and work hard for their families deserve to be paid fairly since 2010 those on the minimum wage now the national living wage seeing their hourly wage go up from £5.80 an hour to £10.42 an hour that's a real terms increase of more than 20% because we've also double the threshold at which you pay tax or national insurance their after tax income has gone up not by 20% but by 25% more than any other income group today I confirm we'll go further and accept the low pay commission recommendation to increase the national living wage by 9.8% to £11.44 an hour that is the largest ever cash increase in the national living wage worth up to £1,800 for a full time worker and since the national living wage has been introduced the proportion of people on low pay defined as earning less than two thirds of national median hourly income has halved but at the new rate of £11.44 an hour it delivers our manifesto commitment to eliminate low pay all together that means by next year someone working full time on the national living wage will see their real take home after tax pay go up not by 25% but by 30% compared to 2010 and that is the difference the party opposite try to reduce poverty with benefits and tax credits they wanted to move people from just below the poverty line to just above it but conservatives know the best way to tackle poverty is through work by reforming the welfare system reducing workless household and tackling low pay we have helped to lift 1.7 million people out of absolute poverty since 2010 because a central part of our plan for growth is to make work pay and so Mr Speaker to the final supply side measure in today's autumn statement for growth because of the difficult decisions that we've taken in the last year today's OBR forecast shows that borrowing will be lower than forecast in the spring debt as a proportion of GDP will be lower than forecast in the spring but inflation will continue to fall and our fiscal headroom has doubled I said I would cut taxes when we could but only responsibly and only in a way that did not fuel inflation the OBR today confirm I can deliver a package which does that for businesses I've today delivered the biggest business tax cut in modern British history with the most competitive investment allowances in any large economy for the self-employed I've simplified and reformed their taxes by abolishing the compulsory class 2 charge and cutting class 4 national insurance but high employment taxes on 27 million people working in the public and private sectors also disincentivise the hard work we should be encouraging on top of income tax at 20% they pay 12% national insurance on earnings between 12,570 and 50,270 that is a 32% marginal tax rate if we want people to get up early in the morning if we want them to work nights if we want an economy where people go the extra mile and work hard then we need to recognise that their hard work benefits us all so today Mr Speaker I'm going to cut the main 12% rate of employee national insurance if I cut it by 1% to 11% that will be an extra £225 in the pockets of the average worker every year but instead I'm going to go further and cut the main rate of employee national insurance by 2% that change will help 27 million people it means someone on the average salary of £35,000 will save over £450 for the average nurse the saving of £520 for the typical police officer a saving of £630 every single year and Mr Speaker I would normally bring in a measure like this from the start of the new tax year in April but instead tomorrow I'm introducing urgent legislation to bring it in from January the 6th so people can see benefit in their payslips at the start of the new year the OBR the OBR say reducing attacks on work means more people in work and they say today's measures just on national insurance will lead to the equivalent of 94,000 full time employees in our economy because lower tax means higher growth between this side and that one in 13 years labour raised taxes in every single budget but conservatives cut taxes when we responsibly can and today we do just that we cut taxes to help bigger businesses invest we cut taxes to help smaller businesses grow we cut taxes for the self-employed who keep our country running and from January we cut taxes 27 million working people whose hard work drives our economy forward Mr Speaker the best universities, the cleverest scientists the smartest entrepreneurs have given us Europe's most innovative economy but we can be the most prosperous too in the face of global challenges we've halved inflation reduced our debt and grown our economy as a country we're sticking to a plan that's working and this autumn statement for growth will attract 20 billion pounds additional business investment a year in the next decade bring tens of thousands of people into work and support our fastest growing industries in a package which leaves borrowing lower debts lower and keeps inflation falling we are delivering the biggest business tax cut in modern British history the largest ever cut to employee and self-employed national insurance and the biggest package of tax cuts to be implemented since the 1980s an autumn statement for a country that has turned a corner an autumn statement for growth which I commend to the House I know call the shudder choice that's Jack O'Rachel Reeves Thank you Mr Speaker today the Chancellor has lifted the lid on 13 years of economic failure we were told that this was to be an autumn statement for growth but the economy is now forecast to be 40 billion pounds smaller by 2027 than the Chancellor said back in March growth revised down next year, the year after and the year after that too the Chancellor claims that the economy has turned a corner yet the truth is that under the Conservatives growth has hit a dead end what has been laid bare today is the full scale of the damage that this government has done to our economy over 13 years and nothing that has been announced today will remotely compensate mortgages rising taxes eating into wages inflation high with prices still going up in the shops public services on their knees and too many families struggling to make ends meet as the sun begins to set on this divided out of touch weak government the only conclusion that the British people will reach is this after 13 years of Conservatives the economy is simply not working and despite all the promises today working people are still worse off Mr Speaker the centrepiece of today's autumn statement is the cuts in the headline rate of national insurance now Mr Speaker I'm old enough to remember when the Prime Minister wanted to put up national insurance as recently as January last year he said and I quote we must go ahead with the increase in the health and care levy it is progressive and it falls most on those who can most afford it utter nonsense it was a tax on working people and we opposed it for that very reason yet again the Prime Minister is left arguing against himself in response to last year's autumn statement I warned that the government was pickpocketing working people through stealth taxes I have long argued that taxes are not too high indeed I said in my conference speech that I want them to be lower from their failure to uprate income tax or national insurance bans to forcing councils to raise council tax the Conservatives have pushed the costs of their failure on to others but the British people won't be taken for fools they know that what has been announced today owes more to the cynicism of a party desperate to cling on to power and the real priorities of this high tax low growth Conservative government so I think that we can forgive tax payers for not celebrating when they see the truth behind today's announcements going into this statement the government had already put in place tax increases worth the equivalent of a 10p increase in national insurance so today's 2p cuts will not remotely compensate tax increases already put in place by this Conservative government the fact is that taxes will be higher at the next election than they were at the last this is the legacy of the Conservatives and that Mr Speaker is their record Mr Speaker the Chancellor and Prime Minister have spent the last two weeks marching their MPs up a hill only to march them down again on inheritance tax and let's not forget when they realised that they had money to spend when they realised that they had money to spend this government's first instinct was a tax cut for millionaires but in the end even they realised that they couldn't get away with it in the middle of a cost of living crisis so can the Chancellor tell the House today is cutting inheritance tax a decision delayed or a decision abandoned this autumn statement for growth is now the 11th Conservative economic growth plan from the 5th Prime Minister the 7th Chancellor and the 9th Business Secretary and what are those numbers add up to according to the most recent GDP data big fat zero that's zero growth in the most recent data in the third quarter of this year now the Chancellor mentioned some countries that we are outperforming in growth but I couldn't help notice that he failed to mention any of the many advanced economies that have grown faster than the UK over the last 13 years of this low growth Conservative government the UK languages in the bottom third of OECD countries when it comes to growth there are 27 OECD economies that have grown faster than us in the 13 years since 2010 including the US Australia, Canada Sweden, Slovenia and 22 others in fact over the next two years no fewer than 177 economies are forecast by the IMF to grow faster sorry I'm not being funny I expect the same curses to the shadowchers that have shattered those who wish to not give that curses please go and find something else to it because my constituents are interested in yours aren't next year Mr Speaker we are forecast to be the slowest growing economy in the whole of the G7 when it comes to economic growth under the Tories we are more world following than world beating and let's look at how their record on growth compares to Labour's record on growth under the Conservatives GDP growth has averaged 1.5% per year but with Labour it grew an average of 2% a year in the 13 years that we were last in office had the economy continued to grow at the rate it did with Labour it would now be £150 billion bigger so what is this government's economic record lower growth and higher borrowing with debt more than doubling now at almost 100% of GDP this is a product of their failures over 13 years a Tory government that has failed on growth failed on debt failed on levelling up and failed on the cost of living too and now they expect the British people to believe that when they say they are going to turn it all around when it is them that is the problem and not the solution Mr Speaker if we are going to grow the economy we must get more people into work let me be clear people who can work should work that's why we've long argued that's why we've long argued that the work capability assessment needs replacing because right now it is discouraging people from seeking work but there's a wider problem that yet again this government is failing to face up to Britain is the only country in the G7 where the employment rate still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels with the increase in the number of people out of the workforce due to long term health issues costing the taxpayer a staggering £15.7 billion a year NHS waiting lists have swelled to £7.8 million an additional half a million since the Prime Minister said he was going to cut them and 2.6 million people are out of work due to long term sickness a healthy nation is critical to a healthy economy that's why Labour has pledged to cut hospital waiting lists investing an additional £1.1 billion a year to deliver 2 million more appointments scans and operations it will be funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status and replacing it with a modern scheme for people who are genuinely living in the UK for short periods but once again we see that this policy has been vetoed by the Prime Minister Mr Speaker the best way to get people back to work is to get our NHS working but the reality is you can never trust the Tories with our NHS the Chancellor has made a great fanfare about public sector efficiency and value for money this is from a government that has blown £140 million on a discredited Rwanda scheme and yet I'm not able to send a single asylum seeker there £7.2 billion money lost on fraud during the pandemic all those checks signed up by the former Chancellor the current Prime Minister £8.7 billion on PPE that's been written off NHS 2 costing £57 billion with not a single piece of track going north of Birmingham no one can trust the Tories with taxpayers money and it says it all that after 13 years of Tory government there are still nearly 12,000 NHS computers running on outdated software that's vulnerable to cyber attacks 10 years ago Health Secretary the now Chancellor promised a paperless NHS by 2018 yet today in 2023 26 NHS trusts are still using fax machines now why on earth should people who experience deteriorating public services under this conservative government trust them to fix it when his six years as Health Secretary changed architects of failure if you put your hands into people's pockets and take money out of them and they don't see visible improvements in the services that they receive they get very angry indeed not my words the Chancellor's words two years ago and I agree with him the Tories have had 13 years to improve public services and they have failed and it's too late I do want to welcome the Chancellor's announcement today of additional funding to tackle antisemitism and Islamophobia to keep our community safe as well as the additional money for the Holocaust educational trust there is no place for hate in our society and I know that across the house we will work together to eliminate it Mr Speaker the Chancellor calls this an autumn statement for growth but it is Labour who has led the agenda on growth and today we see the Conservatives have released their own poor cover version of what we have already announced the Chancellor today is talking about unlocking capital by reforming pensions but Labour would go further encouraging investment into British start-up firms and scale-up firms and introducing measures to ensure the consolidation of pension funds so that the system gets better returns for savers and for the UK economy on planning the Conservatives are following Labour's lead on providing money off bills for communities that host grid infrastructure and speeding up planning decisions what's taken them so long Labour will get Britain building again with a once in a generation set of reforms to accelerate the building of our country's national infrastructure and to build housing too we will fast-track battery factories our life sciences and 5G technology to grow our economy and provide good jobs in every part of our country and we welcome the fact that the Chancellor has announced that we will make full-expensing permanent another thing that we have been calling for but that doesn't make up for the years of uncertainty that businesses have faced with taxes going up and down like a yo-yo with small and medium businesses who play such a pivotal role in growing our economy left exposed to the economy's economic volatility Labour's partnership with business will get our economy firing on all cylinders that's why this week we established a new British infrastructure council with key investors in the UK economy focused on unlocking private investment by addressing the delivery challenges businesses face when investing in Britain through Labour's new national wealth fund we will work alongside the private sector to back the growth of British industries so that we can make the crucial transition to a zero carbon economy and for every pound of public investment we will leverage in three times as much private investment whilst also getting a return to taxpayers Labour's plan will boost our economy get debt falling and make working people better off now Mr Speaker if you listen to the benches opposite you would believe that the cost of living crisis was behind us but inflation is still double the Bank of England's target rate I know the importance of low and stable inflation from my time as an economist at the Bank of England now it is of course welcome that the Chancellor has accepted this year's recommendations from the low pay commission that we set up on the minimum wage is of the conservatives record that average wages for working people have been held back under this government real average weekly wages have increased by just 3% in 13 years compared to a 27% increase under the last Labour government worth an additional £120 more every week for someone going out to work every day and today Mr Speaker is equal pay day so it is also important to recognise that the living standards of working women have also been held back by a gender pay gap that I am determined to close now the Chancellor and the Prime Minister say that the cost of living crisis is dealt with now everything might look a little bit better 10,000 feet up in your helicopter but down here on planet earth but down here on planet earth people are approaching Christmas and the year ahead with worry and trepidation the cost of living crisis has hit us harder because Tory mismanagement has left us so exposed 11 million UK households don't have enough savings to cover three weeks of living expenses if they needed it working families have been skating on thin ice for too long and as their resilience has been eroded so has our national economies let's not forget it was this government that oversaw the closure of our critical gas storage facilities which left our country more exposed to the huge fluctuations in international energy markets while the former prime minister that's four prime ministers ago cut energy efficiency programs lead into higher bills for home owners and just last year we saw the true cost of the conservatives when their kamikaze budget crashed the economy leading to market turmoil tensions put in peril and a spike in interest rates 1.6 million families will see their mortgage deals end this year those remortgaging since July has seen their payments rocket by an average of 220 pounds a month and next year one and a half million families will face similar fate the conservatives economic recklessness inflicted a Tory mortgage penalty on families across the country in Wellingborough families with a mortgage will be expected to find an additional 190 pounds every single month in Richmond North Yorkshire home owners face 200 pounds more a month on their mortgage and in the Chancellor's own constituency but maybe not for long families with a mortgage will see an average increase of 420 pounds a month because of this conservative government's economic failure and with increased costs for landlords and the Chancellor knows something about that as well renters are paying a high price to the truth is Mr Speaker working people just don't have this sort of money lying around but this is what we've come to after 13 years of conservative government and this is the record upon which people will judge the conservatives at the next election this Tory economic recklessness is not a thing of the past the British people are still paying the price and we say never again last week Labour put forward an amendment to the king's speech to put our fiscal lock into law it would prevent a repeat of last years economic horror show and yet the Tories voted against it it is clear that today Labour is the party of economic and fiscal responsibilities a conservatives have learned absolutely nothing Mr Speaker the country is crying out for change a decaying government can change its personnel but they have failed to change the direction of our country in 13 years we've had seven chancellors if you wouldn't run a business like this you can't run a country like it either and the Prime Minister can't even promise that this chancellor will be in place at the next election we've all heard the reports when they first came together it was the fairytale marriage but one year on the relationship has hit the rocks the pair have grown apart with rumours running right that the Prime Minister already has his eyes but whoever this Prime Minister picks as the chancellor the truth is this Britain is and will be worse off under the conservatives they have held back growth they have crashed our economy increased debt trashed our public services left businesses out in the cold and made life harder for working people our country cannot afford five more years of the conservatives the ravens are leaving the tower when even Sarchi and Sarchi are saying the Tories are not working the questions that people will be asking at the next election and after today's autumn statement are simple to me and my family feel better off after 13 years of conservative government to our schools our hospitals, our police today work better after 13 years of conservative government in fact does anything in Britain work better today than when the conservatives came into office 13 years ago we all know that working people are worse off under the conservatives with growth down mortgages up prices up, taxes up debt up and Mr Speaker their time is up time for change a change Labour party to lead Britain and to make working people better off Thank you Mr Speaker Madam Deputy Speaker indeed and I'm afraid the shadow chancellor has shown once again that Labour has nothing credible to say on the economy she tells the papers this morning that she will accept these measures as you would expect from a copy and paste shadow chancellor can I say in all sincerity that I particularly welcome her conversion to supporting full expensing which she actually voted against in this house that is copy and pasting in the national interest and we welcome it on this side of the house she compared growth rates under Labour and the conservatives but she carefully omitted one fact Labour inherited a golden legacy from the conservatives and then proceeded to trash the economy before handing it over and when it comes to when it comes to growth when it comes to growth she didn't like it when I reminded her that we have grown faster under the conservatives than any other major European economy and she says that she is now converted to conservative supply side reforms on welfare so I look forward to her voting with us on those but her main policies are not supply side it is a demand side boost to growth by increasing borrowing by 28 billion pounds a year with absolutely no plans to repay it now the shadow chief secretary doesn't appear to be in his place this morning he asked for more action on inflation well the first thing Labour could do is drop their damaging inflationary plan to ramp borrowing up now she talked about the NHS and despite the fact that we've had more doctors more nurses we've had more patients treated in good or outstanding hospitals again what she didn't mention is the only place in Britain that NHS funding has been cut is Wales once but twice with the longest hospital waits in Britain and perhaps perhaps we should talk about what's happened after 13 years when we repaired Labour's damage unemployment down poverty down prime down low pay down schools funding up NHS funding up tax is the path to higher growth and today we make a start before I don't have any shouting thank you very much before I call the chairman of the treasury select committee to ask a question I just want to make it clear to the House because there is some confusion that this is not the procedure that we use for a budget this is the autumn statement it is therefore a statement now is the taking of questions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer once that has concluded then we will go on to the debate which is speeches so I know that I have a list of people who want to make speeches there will be some overlap I'm just paying attention to that Harriet Baldwin thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker and what a difference a year makes we have seen a reduction in the rate of inflation from this time last year 11.1% down to 4.6% this month and we heard yesterday from the Governor of the Bank of England that he is expecting inflation to return to their target over the course of the next year or so I was interested to hear that there are 110 measures in the announcements today that will drive growth in the UK economy I welcome the fact that the Office for Budget Responsibility is now forecasting that this year we will see growth in the UK economy in contrast to their forecast this time last year of a recession and the committee looks forward to examining those 110 growth measures in detail next week we will hear from both the Office for Budget Responsibility and from the Chancellor himself but for my question may I ask the Chancellor if he could tell the House overall how much his measures will improve growth and how much they have helped drive down inflation over the course of next year well I thank my honourable friend who speaks very wisely about the economy from her position chairing the Treasury Select Committee so the OBR are very specific about that they say that the measures that I take today will permanently increase GDP by 0.3% the measures I took in the spring budget will permanently increase GDP by 0.2% so taken together those measures will increase GDP by 0.5% SNP spokesman Drew Hendrick Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker I thank the Chancellor for advance sight of his redactions Madam Deputy Speaker the Chancellor wants you to think he's pulled a rabbit out of the hat today but actually all he's done is pulled the wool over many people's eyes things are still getting worse for people inflation is still more than double the target that it should be and that means prices and costs of homes are still going up day by day the cost of living still goes on and people need help now the economy far from the cry from the Chancellor is stagnating it is not growing at the moment by anything more than the sliver of a percentage just now and that is on his watch the Chancellor in this statement is trying to take credit for things that he should be doing anyway that they promise to do or indeed things that they've already done and they're now taking backward steps on which I'll come to more in a second the energy price cap goes up tomorrow it's scheduled to go up again in January costs are going to continue to increase for people so when welcoming some of the small measures like the issues that they report for veterans the national insurance class 2 abolition and indeed one of the significant measures for business in terms of the full expensing and making that permanent the rest of this really doesn't bear the kind of scrutiny that I hope it will get from the proper analysts over the next few days Madam Deputy Speaker as I said the burden is still high for people and the tax burden in the UK is still the highest it's been in seven years the Institute for Fiscal Studies have pointed out that taxes higher than three years ago even after these measures from the Chancellor today in reality they don't go nearly far enough to cover the cost of living crisis faced by people across the nations of the UK people who are struggling with mortgages and rents with food bills with energy bills tax relief to help those saying their monthly bills go up and for measures to help renters why has he ignored those people struggling on food bills we ask for action to help people struggling to pay their bills at the checkout to work like for example France, Canada and Greece to reduce the cost for people why has he chosen not to intervene on food and help those people we ask for a range of measures to help people this winter we'll be facing even higher bills than last year such as the £400 energy bill rebate a lower price cap a social tariff for people why has he chosen not to help those people who will not be able to afford to heat their homes this coming winter so will he at least rule out the planned increase in the cap in January we ask for him to commit to increasing working age benefits in line with inflation next year will he commit to doing that but once again he's chosen to punish the most vulnerable with these welfare changes the nasty party is back in business for good not supporting people is a choice and we all know what that choice is for this government this government is on the record it's impossible of let people die we wanted to hear about vac cuts for tourism and hospitality about how to get skilled workers now to fill our vacancies but he's chosen to ignore these stresses on our sectors we've asked him to lay off the Scotch whisky industry and it's good that he's frozen the duty but there's an enormous pause for this one he's frozen it at the rate he's already increased at it the whisky industry is still paying 75% in tax under this Tory UK government isn't it funny how Scotland has always told it's too poor until they need to raise money from our exports and natural resources and then miraculously miraculously riches are found we asked him to invest in net zero and he's made some announcements today but again when you work down green investment plans and what he calls green energy I think we'll find that most of that money will go into nuclear that could the white elephant of the energy sector just now it is an absolute... my honourable friend says shambles we asked him to match the £500 million energy transition fund for the north east of Scotland he's chosen to ignore that he's chosen to ignore these opportunities highlighting again why we need the full powers of independence in Scotland we asked him to deliver across the UK additional funding for public services to allow us to help councils the NHS and more and he's chosen to ignore that call as I said he's chosen not to help people who are struggling with the cost of the living crisis he could have helped mortgage and rent payers he could have helped those struggling to pay for food he could have helped those with their energy bills in the SNP our values lead us to want to alleviate policy and strive to get rid of it altogether we seek measures now and in the future to help people and we are acting now freezing the council tax investing in childcare saying no to tuition fees we're using the limited powers to mitigate this nasty Tory government's cruel policies from this place like the rate clause and the bedroom tax we're keeping our water our rail services our NHS in public hands we are not like the Tories and Labour holding the door open for private companies to rush in we've previously stepped in where Westminster has failed to boost broadband coverage to increase our renewables and to champion the just transition we choose to put our people first those are our values values that will build a fairer and more prosperous Scotland the Scottish government has taken the steps it can to help alleviate the worst impacts of poverty offering people a degree of stability through the council tax freeze and a cap on rent increases we would do more but the fiscal powers needed are currently in this chancellor's hands we would choose to help today he had the power to help people to lift a finger to right some of the wrongs of this government that he's inflicted upon them but people aren't this government's priority we know who goes through their priority lanes why is this UK government fixated on tents when they should be worried about rents they have a little to offer Scotland our route out the chaos that Westminster's created and the permanent austerity of the cost of living nightmare that people having to endure and the way out of that for us is through independence and rejoining the EU we must have that choice Chancellor Chancellor Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker I think he prepared his comments for the autumn statement he wanted me to deliver not the one that I actually delivered I mean for example he complained about the tax burden being the highest for seven years but what he didn't say was that in Westminster we've taken difficult decisions and cut taxes in Scotland the SNP ran out of money and had to raise them he talked about punishing the most vulnerable and just look at the measures he talked about renters and didn't mention that we have increased the local housing allowance which will mean 800 pounds of help to 1.6 million of our poorest people he didn't mention the fact that we've increased benefits by 6.7% that is double next year's expected inflation increased the state pension through the triple lock by 8.5% three times next year's predicted inflation and he is the most uncomfortable truth for the SNP they've actually been in power in Edinburgh for longer than the Conservatives have been in power in Westminster and yet Scottish GDP is still lower Scottish employment is still lower Scottish inactivity is still higher and the reason for that is very simple they focus on separation we focus on growth and I know what's better for families in Scotland who will today see us getting growth going cutting taxes and backing Scottish business Father of the house, Sir Peter Bottomley The citizens advice office covering my constituency will be grateful that the local housing allowance has been changed the people who supply drink and drinkers will be pleased that alcohol duty has been frozen at least for the time being which will help both drinkers and not increase inflation I'm glad that the Chancellor has pointed out to the Shadow Chancellor that the only time Labour did really well was when they have bade the Conservative rules in 1998 or 1990 before they let go the valves and drove the economy into a stage where when we took over they were spending £4, maybe £3 brought in in revenue to the government Can I ask the Chancellor not to respond today but in time to the injustice to 500,000 pensioners overseas and Puckridge born five years before the Chancellor's father who served in intelligence in the Navy and the RAF during the war retired to Calgary on a pension of £72 it's still £72 instead of £156 that's an injustice which does need attention and I hope she will get it and we will have proposals that will change this bad situation Chancellor Can I thank the father of House for his comments and I will look into the issue of overseas pensioners as he requested and if I may I will write back to him about it or I'm happy to talk to him about it and can I also thank him for his comments about what happened in 1997 because then as now the Labour Party was trying to say that their economic policies are basically the same as the Conservatives but the reality was quite different because they didn't fix the roof while the sun was shining the recession after the financial crisis was much worse Dame Angela Egon Madam Deputy Speaker the Chancellor didn't mention the freeze to tax thresholds in his autumn statement which is due in the next six years to rake in £52 billion was that an omission or is he leaving the freeze in place I've never hidden the fact that we took difficult decisions a year ago by freezing the thresholds in order to get borrowing under control in order to tackle inflation but because the economy since then has outperformed the expectations of nearly every independent body we're able this time to reduce the tax burden and I choose to reduce the things that boost growth Sir John Redwood I've declared my business interest I welcome the measures in the statement to promote more investment and more growth are absolutely vital we have lost around 800,000 self-employed since February 2020 national insurance will help a bit but will you look again at IR35 and the way it prevents them expanding their businesses and getting contracts and on the growth of small businesses again welcome measures but the VAT threshold does act as a very strong disincentive to expand your business when you get to a certain point Chancellor I would like to thank him I've had extensive discussions with him in the run-up to this autumn statement and many discussions about the self-employed and indeed it was partly his advocacy of the role of the self-employed that made me enthusiastic to make the national insurance changes that I was able to make I hear what he says about IR35 we took the decision we did partly because of concerns over avoidance I'm happy to look at that again and when it comes to the VAT threshold he and many other colleagues have made the same point we do have the highest VAT threshold in any major European country and indeed of any G7 country but there is always this issue of the cliff edge and he's right to draw my attention to it Dane Maghillia Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker Madam Deputy Speaker can the Chancellor confirm that living standards will drop by 3% in the next year Chancellor What I can confirm to the right Honourable Lady is that a year ago they were predicted to fall by 3.7% and now the OBR say they will increase this year by 2.5% Alberto Costa Madam Deputy Speaker the people of Bleby and Glenparva were listening attentively to this welcome autumn statement they're going to the polls Madam Deputy Speaker on the 21st of December in two by-elections a county council and award by-elections what positive message does the Chancellor have to the residents, the businesses the pensioners, people of working age in Bleby and Glenparva about his welcome financial statement Chancellor Well what I'd say to the businesses in Bleby and Glenparva is that for every single small business we have frozen business rates we're rolling over 75% to scout on business rates for every pub, restaurant and high street shop for another year because we want to do everything to back small business because they are the lifeblood of our communities The statement is a deception from the Chancellor after years of unfair tax hikes Under this Conservative Government economic growth is flatlining and public services are on their knees Now this year there are 400,000 people who are still on NHS waiting lists having been on the NHS waiting list this time last year when the Chancellor last made his autumn statement and these people have been cruelly let down In that statement last year the Chancellor said you don't need to choose either a strong economy or good public services So will he look the British people in the eye and admit that he has given them neither? Chancellor Well I do think that she should be careful with her language saying things like that I'm very clear when it comes to growth we have grown faster than any major European economy since 2010 yes, whilst interest rates are higher as they need to be because we're bringing down inflation growth is more subdued but if you listen to for example the IMF dependent commentators they say that when we have got inflation back down to target we will have higher growth and France, Italy and Germany and when it comes to the NHS we put an extra £3.3 billion into the NHS budget in the autumn statement last year with doctor strikes happening for most of the period since then it has been very difficult to make progress on waiting lists and I hope she would address her comments to those doctors if she's going to be consistent Jesse Norr I'm actually pleased to speak for the first time of Black Ventures for a while I massively welcome the budget and particularly the emphasis that the Chancellor has given to skills and the superb work that's being done by the DFE at the same time in Herafeture we worry about the pollution in our river why could I ask him to consider talking further with the Secretary of State for DEFRA in order to think about whether some package may not be put in place to support the long term improvement of that river Can I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his sterling work as a Government Minister and say to him that when it comes to pollution in the river he will know that the Government has made changes requiring the water companies to do over £50 billion of investment in the years ahead but he like me wants to see faster progress and I will happily give him any support I can Sir Stephen Timms Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker for the announcement on benefit uprating not as he claimed a mark of compassion but at least delivering the essential minimum and I congratulate the Secretary of State on achieving that. For the last three years the Household Support Fund has enabled local councils to provide a very important safety net for families facing the greatest hardship Will there be a Household Support Fund next year? Chancellor Yes there will Bob Blackman Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker quicker than I expected My right hon. Friend has mentioned a whole series of planning reforms that he's proposing. One of the problems that local authorities have up and down the country is a lack of planning officers to actually determine those planning applications and it will clearly take time to train and recruit new people One of the risks that he fulfills is of the premium service for large-scale developments There is a risk that that will mean planning officers switch to those roles rather than determining the day-to-day planning applications Does my right hon. Friend understand that we'll need to recruit more people? Does this need legislation and what is the time frame for him introducing these changes? Chancellor Well he asks a very important question and I want to assure him that I've had extensive discussions with the community secretary to make sure that we implement these reforms in a way that doesn't lead to unintended consequences But the most important thing is that by saying for the biggest applications they are able to have full cost recovery with respect to local councils we can start to get more resources that mean we train up more planning officers and we avoid delays not just for the bigger applications but for all of them I'm sorry Does the Chancellor agree that the Prime Minister was wrong last year to join the Greece national insurance? What the Prime Minister wanted to do then is what he has delivered as Prime Minister which is find a way to deliver extra funding to the NHS but what we as Conservatives believe is that taxing the economy will lead to higher growth and that will mean that we can fund our public services better Sir Geoffrey Lifton-Brown I'm sure that the people of Cotswald will welcome enormously many of the measures in this budget but can I just go on to one subject which is dear to my heart and that is the tourist tax there was no mention in his an excellent budget of the tourist tax British tourists going abroad spend billions of pounds benefiting those countries and yet we actively discourage high-spending tourists coming from abroad and benefit our shops and hospitality venues Chancellor Can I reassure my right honoured friends that we want to do everything possible to make our tourism and our retail industry competitive and we want to encourage international visitors when we changed policy on this particular issue a year ago it was because the cost was around £2.5 billion a year and we didn't think we could afford to continue doing it but we are looking again at the numbers in the light of the most recent data and we can see what's happened to comparative shops in Paris and Milan and we will review that and see if it is still that expensive and I hope it isn't Sammy Russell Many of the measures in the announcement today will have spending consequences which will apply to England and Wales I welcome many of them because they are growth measures such as getting long-term one-employed and long-term sick into work help for the creative industries and support for business rates Can the Chancellor confirm that these will be subject to Barnett consequential payments and if they are will the freeze on Barnett consequential payments to Northern Ireland apply to these measures? Chancellor I can confirm that where they are reserved matters there obviously wouldn't be Barnett consequentials but where they aren't there would be and I would also say to him that our priority in terms of funding for Northern Ireland remains the restoration return of locally elected and accountable executive but in the meantime we will continue to support the province in every way we can Sir Jacob Rees-Mott Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker Has my right honourable friend given any consideration has the Treasury carried out an analysis of the effect on economic policy of mistaken forecasts from the OBR? Chancellor I thought my right honourable friend might ask a question of that ilk but what I would gently say to him is that it wasn't just the OBR that found that their forecasts were wrong it was nearly every commentator the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund and pleased to say that in every single case they have found that the British economy has outperformed their expectations Debbie Abrams Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker I also welcome the increase in social security operating by September's inflation rate but I agree with my right honourable friend the chair of the select committee that it is the bare minimum but I'm incredibly concerned about the proposals for the work fair approach he will be aware that Errol Graham was four and a half stone when he was found in his flat he'd starved to death and that was because there hadn't been any contact from DWP officers he hadn't been able to respond and they just stopped his support so given this given so many sectors of state for work and pensions have said we don't have a safeguarding a statutory safeguarding duty what is the estimate of the number of social security claimers who will die as a consequence of these measures Chancellor Can I say to the honourable lady that she will understand and I know she wouldn't ask me to comment on an individual case but I would like to say to her that what we are introducing is not work fair it is support to help people into work we are spending two and a half billion pounds over the next five years to help more than a million people we think that is the root out of poverty and away from dependency Welcome Chancellor's comment that a world-class education is essential for economic growth and there are many measures to welcome the extra funding for all across educational trust £50 million for apprenticeships and nearly over £600 tax cuts for teachers in this Of course many people working in education will also welcome the nearly 10% increase in the national living wage but it will put great pressures on schools employing teaching assistants and our nurseries which we are so keen to expand and support Can I urge the Chancellor to engage very closely with the sector and the Department for Education in making sure that we can meet those pressures both when it comes to funding high needs and grow the earlier sector Chancellor My hon. Friend is a big expert on education and I always listen to what he said and he's right to say that the average teacher will see an increase in their take home pay of £630 next year because of the 2% cut in national insurance contributions When it comes to the national living wage I absolutely hear what he says but I would also say that for many schools and nurseries the issue is recruitment and finding people to fill the roles that they have and this change will make that much easier Well this is getting exciting Gavin Murens Thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker Chancellor mentioned support for carbon capture and erosion hydrogen Prime Minister earlier spoke of support for the oil and gas sector but he'll be all too aware of the announcement this morning of the closure or intended closure of oil refinery which is a huge 4% of the Scottish GDP and hundreds of jobs Can he tell us what discussions he's had with the energy secretary or the Scottish Government if they're named to try to stop this closure before it's disastrous impact comes to pass Chancellor Well we obviously monitoring the situation extremely carefully but I do want to say to him that it is our priority to support the oil and gas and refinery industries we made some big changes to do that and we would welcome support from all sides of the house in doing so John Barrett I commend the Chancellor for the compassion and enterprise incentives that shine through this statement I thank him also for the UK retail disclosure framework I haven't seen the detail of an SI to resolve the legislative issues with cost disclosure for investment companies Can he assure me that this will correct the overzealous regulation which is making investment companies look unduly expensive and thereby restricting investment Chancellor I've had many discussions with him on this issue and he's absolutely right there is a danger with overzealous regulation that people are focused more on cost and like him I want to resolve his share Barbara Keogh Thank you Madame Doty's speaker The Chancellor talked about the creative industries but then he only announced he would look at improving film and high-end TV tax credits but the cultural tax release continued to help our orchestras, theatres, museums and galleries to survive and they protect jobs Now Budget 2023 extended the uplifted rate of relief until March 2024 after which it tapers The Budget sadly also introduced some changes which would limit what cultural organisations can claim for Orchestra tax relief is a critical source of income without it some orchestras are saying they could fold losing musicians jobs So will the Chancellor look not just at film and high-end TV tax credit but all the cultural tax release and how they can continue to support jobs in our creative industries Chancellor Having only just delivered the autumn statement I don't want to pre-empt what might be in the spring budget but there will be another fiscal event for the end of the financial year in which all these events will be looked at and with respect to orchestras in particular who I think are fantastically important for our cultural landscape I would just say that a typical person playing in an orchestra is going to get £450 increase in post tax pay next year and that will help them greatly Thank you Madame Doty's speaker Can I congratulate my right honourable friend for the statement that will make a significant difference to investment levels, employment and to living costs recognising that it's all within the context of the cost of Covid as well as the energy shock that the conflict in Ukraine brought about that's something we often forget about but can I also pass on the appreciation of the beer and pub sector to my right honourable friend freezing duty and continuing the reduction in business rates is just exactly what the sector asked for and is an early Christmas present to so many of us who want to celebrate in great style as we approach the festive season Will my right honourable friend please continue to engage with the sector listening to what they have to say so that they can also share their investment ambitions as well Chancellor I commit to my right honourable friend I won't just continue to engage with the sector I will continue to enjoy the odd glass of penderin which is my favourite whisky Clive Alfred Deputy Speaker Can I confirm after today's tax cuts we still will have the highest tax burden for 70 years when we go in to the next general election up £4,000 per household on pre-pandemic levels Chancellor What I can confirm to the honourable gentleman is that after today's measures we will have the lowest tax burden for someone on average pay in the G7 that is lower than Japan, America, France, Germany or Italy or Canada Deputy Speaker The reason our economy is growing and not exceeding is due to investment innovation and millions of hard-working individuals across the country as well as a government that has focused on tackling inflation Does he agree with me that this side of the house we get it that no country can spend its way to prosperity Chancellor Is absolutely right because high inflation is destabilising for an economy it stops businesses investing it stops families spending and it also causes misery to people who see the cost of their weekly shop go through the roof and that's why it has been our number one priority and it would be great if it was the other sides too Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker It is frankly embarrassing that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have spent this afternoon celebrating inflation staying 2% above target when families in my constituency in Selbyn Aynsty face 10% food inflation every time they use the supermarket What message does the Chancellor think his celebrations send to those hard-working families Chancellor It's not celebrating that's halved inflation from 11.1% a year ago it's hard work and difficult decisions which unfortunately were mainly opposed by Labour Scott Menton Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker I commend the Chancellor on his statement which delivers for the people of Blackpool 5,000 of my constituents will benefit from a boost to the national living wage 12,000 pensioners in my constituency will be £900 per year better off whilst those in work will of course be £450 better off through the cut to national insurance Does the Chancellor agree that this is only possible because of the difficult long-term decisions this government have taken an approach which stands in stark contrast to the tax borrowing and spending offered by the opposition Chancellor Shadow Chancellor can't hear these things too many times because she always she loves copying and pasting our policies and there's another one that she could merrily get copying and pasting because here's the reason why my honourable friend from Blackpool is absolutely right let me tell you why the reason is very straightforward because we had an economic crisis thanks to the energy shock and the pandemic Labour had an economic crisis because of what happened in the financial markets the differences we took tough decisions to bring back fiscal responsibility they ducked every single one Rachel Maskell The biggest disparity in local housing allowance comes from the geography built around the broad rented market sector so if we look at the way that's calculated in York £650 LHA but on top of that £983 for a property it's not working so will we review the BRMA? I'm happy to discuss that matter with the DWP Secretary of State and I recognise it's an issue that she has campaigned on very sincerely for some time I would say though that the decision to increase the local housing allowance to the 30th percentile will help 1.6 million families with an extra £800 so I hope she also recognises it will make a difference Greg Smith From tax cuts to 27 million workers incentives for businesses to grow support for pensioners and a continued lifeline to help the good start my right hon. friend has made to reducing the tax burden as we recover from the pandemic and the energy shock but can I particularly thank him for the recognition he's shown to the self-employed not just by making class 2 and 4 national insurance contributions fairer and reforming those but for the signal that sends that just as the self-employed can't recover from the time the party opposite crashed the economy when they were last in government we now need as many people as possible to take that step to start their own enterprise and help this country grow I couldn't agree with my horrible friend more and the whole purpose of our approach is to make it easier for people who are prepared to take risks to work hard and there is no one who exemplifies those values better and I would like to thank him for being one of this country's greatest defenders of the great British point Marsha de Gordoba Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker it really is a scandal that yet again disabled people are being punished for this government's economic failures were today's announcements of more cruel and callous cuts on them forcing them to work from home evidence shows that sanctions do not incentivise people to work instead they are harmful and they are counterproductive this plan will only further erode the social security safety net as a result of 13 years of austerity and the waged war against disabled people and the hostile environment so does the Chancellor not understand that this plan will only punish disabled people pushing them further away from the labour market and leading to poorer health outcomes Salaf With the greatest respect to the honourable lady we introduced a plan to help disabled people get back into work as many of them say they would like to do and in just four years that has got 1.4 million disabled people back into jobs Then Bradley Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker Can I welcome an autumn statement from the Chancellor that cuts taxes, investing growth seeks to shrink the size of the state and reforms welfare it will go down very very well with the vast majority of my constituents who voted for a Conservative Government in 2019 and it's most welcome by me too Can I particularly thank him for his continued commitment to our East Midlands investment zone and our East Midlands free port where he's listened to stakeholders in extending the time and adding more investment to our major growth plans will he continue to work with us in the region to ensure that alongside our development company and our new East Midlands combined authority we're able to properly harness these tools to deliver an amazing regional growth strategy and deliver all of the growth and investment that he wants to see Chancellor Can I thank my honourable friend for his role in the transformation of the East Midlands through his other responsibilities in the councils there and can I just say to him that levelling up will only work if we harness the enterprise and the ideas of local civic leaders and he is a fantastic example of them Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker Today is equal pay day which means because of the gender pay gap it's the day of the year where women based on their average earnings stop being paid while men continue to the end of the year but more concerningly is the pension gap which is 35% which meant female pensioners stop being paid on August 26 Now the reason for that is often because older women have chosen and sacrificed their earning potential to care for loved ones so can I ask the government when it is going to consider reforming carers allowance which currently is an active disincentive to carers going into work when will we start looking at the cliff edge instead of making it shorter and sharper? Chancellor Well I'm always happy to engage with any honourable members if they have concerns about the way the benefits system operates in terms of disincentivising people who would like to work but can't and caring responsibilities is a particular area that she's raised so I'm very happy to engage with her outside this house on that matter Mike King Thank you very much Manchester and Trafford councils cumulative cuts since 2010 have been £443,000,000 and £288,000,000 respectively since 2010 The local government association saying the funding gap will be £4 billion in the next two years in the statement that would stop the continuing crumbling of our local services Chancellor I think what the honourable gentleman is omitting is the fact that in the autumn statement a year ago when I was having to make big cuts in public spending going forward I actually found an increase of £4.7 billion from next year for adult social care which will make an enormous difference to every council in the country Further to his answer on Northern Ireland and Barnett consequentials the Chancellor will be aware that Northern Ireland is facing an unprecedented budget crisis at present so could I ask him to confirm that he is open to discussions around the fiscal floor and the investment safe transformation package for any potential restored power sharing executive Chancellor The UK government will continue to do everything we can to support the restoration of power sharing in the province and all I will say is that the Treasury is actively involved in all those discussions Jonathan Edwards Madam Deputy Speaker in recognition of the impact of elitistly pylon development on properties you announced compensation of £1,000 per property per year for 10 years does the policy apply in Wales and if not will the Welsh Government receive funding for developments where they have confidence like the one that I have in the Tau Valley in my constituency he knows that the foreign property value should be far more than the compensation so would it not be better to remove detriment by cable ploughing these cables at a comparative cost to traditional pylon development Chancellor My understanding is that it will apply to Wales in exactly the same way it applies to the rest of the UK what I would say in terms of the way we do this is that we need to work out the most sensible, proportionate and balanced way of solving the problem that we have to double our electricity generation between now and 2050 and we're going to have to do things differently as a result Admiral I can say Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker we are in the worst cost of living crisis that we have ever seen and the key takeaway from the just four measures the Chancellor announced to tackle this crisis is not investing in deprived communities nor the richest pay their fair share or spreading economic growth across the whole country it's a commitment to stop the pine getting more expensive just what is that supposed to do for my constituents who face crippling mortgage payments who are paying 30% more for food whose wages are stagnating and whose homes have been made unaffordable to he Chancellor Look to the statement rather selectively people struggling with cost of living pressures has risen as a result of my decisions to 104 billion pounds let me just go through pensioners they're going to get an increase next year three times the rate of inflation people on benefits are going to get an increase and their benefits double inflation people who are renting and on low incomes are going to see an 800 pound increase on average through the local housing allowance and anyone on the lowest legally payable wage if they're working full time could see an extra 1,500 pounds from increases in the national living wage Thank you Madam Speaker there's a so-called prudent Chancellor a cancelled HS2 to Manchester due to the spiralling cost of that project yet despite the likes of Hinkley Point sea rising from £18 billion to £33 billion there's not a single successful EPR project in the world yet again today is confirmed a blank check for the nuclear industry on the size we'll see is likely going to cost £40 billion there's got a taxpayer 20% stake on it it's good enough for HS2 why doesn't it scrap size we'll see and save us from that nuclear financial disaster because if we want to get to net zero we're going to have to have more renewable energy and unfortunately for him and for me there are days when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow Madam Deputy Speaker we have the lowest investment in the G7 and on the government's own things it's falling further and further currently public sector investment is actually scheduled to fall by £14 billion in real terms over the next five years so we're out Madam Deputy Speaker serious investment on public services we cannot hope to improve productivity which the Chancellor spoke about today he can't just demand that people go back to work and w