Jeremy Hunt has revealed his Autumn Statement to MPs in the House of Commons.
The Chancellor’s package of measures to boost growth, cut taxes and secure the pensions triple lock marked a highly political mid-financial year speech.
His key statement was delivered with an eye on a looming general election expected next year.
It came as The Office for Budget Responsibility upgraded its growth forecast for this year's gross domestic product, a measure of the size of the economy, but downgraded the figure for subsequent years.Now, it’s also emerged in analysis of the detail that there’s threadbare funding in the years ahead for public services.
Along with business tax breaks, Hunt’s cut the main rate of National Insurance by two percentage points.
He will bring in the measure for 27 million workers on January 6 through emergency legislation.
The Chancellor said someone on the average salary of £35,000 will save over £450 - but there's concerns many people’s NI gains will be offset by previous threshold changes to their pay packets.
At the same time, workers were given new rights to nominate which pension scheme they want their employer paying into.
The National Living Wage will increase from April, from £10.42 to £11.44, with 18-20 year olds getting a boost to £8.60 per hour.
It was also confirmed that people with mobility and mental health problems face benefits cuts if they don’t look for jobs that can be undertaken from home.
The Standard podcast is joined by LSE economist Dr Grace Lordan and our political editor, Nicholas Cecil.
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