Autumn Statement 2023 live: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announces national insurance cut - latest updates

Apart from increasing the local housing allowance, there were minimal notable announcements from the Chancellor on housing - with mortgages and first-time buyers ignored completely.

Kate Steere, deputy editor and mortgage expert at personal finance comparison site finder.com, commented: "Help for first-time buyers was noticeably absent from today’s autumn statement. The housing market’s resilience in the past couple of months may have swayed the chancellor away from introducing any groundbreaking changes.

"However, the fact remains that first-time buyers are faced with a shortage of properties in their price range and significantly higher borrowing costs. The government’s decision not to address problems with the Lifetime ISA (LISA) scheme will leave many first-time buyers in limbo. It’s short-sighted for it not to acknowledge changes in the market and make adjustments to LISAs accordingly.

"The same can be said for the decision to leave stamp duty untouched. Ahead of the statement, there were rumours of a stamp duty cut or a green stamp duty rebate. Neither has materialised, signifying that the government is inclined to let the market sort itself out. While house prices remain steady, buyer confidence is still low. A change to stamp duty could have stabilised the market and shored up confidence."

While the Autumn Statement is naturally packed with spending, figures and economic analysis, it still has some political spin attached. Jeremy Hunt has presented this as a "tax cut" budget - with the national insurance cut the headline figure.

However, despite this, the overall tax burden will continue to rise. This is because the government has frozen the income tax thresholds, while wages have risen because of inflation pushing more people into higher tax brackets. It's been described as a stealth tax, and HMRC raked in an additional £27billion because of it this year.

The Treasury says this is necessary because of the vast sums of money the government had to borrow over the pandemic and the energy bill crisis. However it's quite different to how Hunt presented it in the Commons.

Labour says that "too many families are struggling to make ends meet" and "nothing that has been announced today will remotely compensate" this.

The economy and cost of living crisis is the number one issue facing voters, and if they start to feel better off there's a chance Rishi Sunak may arrest his flagging poll numbers. However, with the Bank of England saying no one should get overconfident about inflation, that's still a big if.

Labour has blasted the Conservatives for making working people "worse off".

In response to today's statement, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said:  “Nothing that has been announced today will remotely compensate.

"Mortgages rising, taxing 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.”

Jeremy Hunt announces he is cutting headline national insurance from 12% to 10% from 6 January.

He told MPs in the chamber that the move will "help 27 million" workers.

Hunt said: “It means someone on the average salary of £35,000 will save over £450. For the average nurse, it is a saving of over £520 and for the typical police officer it is a saving of over £630 every single year.”

There is anger and fury in the House of Commons over Hunt's announcement over the "biggest reform of the welfare system in a decade".

It involves taking away benefits if claimants are unable to find a job with government support after 18 months. One opposition MP shouted "disgusting" when this was announced.

The Chancellor has announced a series of tax cuts for businesses which he hope will stimulate the economy.

This includes making permanent a tax cut for businesses who invest a million pounds in the UK, as well as tax cuts for self employed people.

Hunt said this is the "most effective way we can raise wages and living standards for every person in this country".

However, polling shows that the public actually want the government to increase businesses taxes, as they feel companies don't pay enough. Hunt will need to hope any growth filters through to the public.

Around two million self-employed people will be impacted as Hunt announced that class 2 national insurance will be axed.

He said: “Today, after careful consideration and in recognition of the contribution made by self-employed people to our country, I can announce we are abolishing class 2 national insurance altogether, saving the average 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.”

Class 4 national insurance will also be cut from 9% to 8%, with Hunt adding that "these reforms will save around two million self-employed people an average of £350 a year from April.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said that the economy will grow by 0.6% this year and again by 0.7% in 2024, according to Hunt.

But he added: “If we want those numbers to be higher, we need higher productivity.”

Hunt said that the government will commit to the triple lock "in full", with the state pension increase by 8.5% to £221.20 a week from April 2024.

He said: "That is one of the largest ever cash increases to the state pension – showing a Conservative government will always back our pensioners.”

Hunt has announced a number of reforms which he says will increase house building.

He says the government will put in £110m into nutrient mitigation schemes, and launch "housing quarters in Cambridge, London and Leeds".

He'll also allow people to turn buildings into two separate flats without requiring planning permission. All fairly minor changes for a country in the midst of a housing crisis.

Watching on from high up in the House of Commons, NationalWorld's Political Editor Ralph Blackburn says that Jeremy Hunt seems confident throughout his statement.

Hunt says he's ending the freeze on local housing allowance, and moving it up to 30%.

This has been blamed for homelessness by campaigners across the country.

Hunt says the cost of living is "most acute for those on the lowest incomes".

As such he says benefits will be uprated by the September inflation figures, not the lower October figure. Universal Credit and other benefits will increase by 6.7% next year.

He claims this shows "compassionate Conservatism". This is a clever bit of politics from Hunt.

He briefed out benefits might be uprated by the October figure to save money, only to announce he's doing it by the higher September rate - which is the convention anyway.

Hunt says that the government has hit its (self imposed) target to halve inflation this year.

Yesterday, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said that the Bank had achieved this, not the government.

Hunt says OBR forecasts show inflation is to drop to 2.8% by the end of 2024 and to the 2% target in 2025.

Jeremy Hunt has started the Autumn Statement.

He's described it as an "Autumn Statement for growth" saying this government "is not big state and high tax".

Quite a statement from a government with the highest tax burden since 1949.

Rishi Sunak recently met with X owner Elon Musk after the AI Summit at Bletchley Park, however his meeting has come under fire from MPS.

SNP leader Stephen Flynn has asked Rishi Sunak once again to call for a ceasefire, and urged him to recognise the Palestinian state. He said: "It's not a pause in the killing of children we need, it's an end to the killing we need."

Sunak responded by saying "the agreement reached shows it wasn't right to call for a ceasefire". He added he was in discussions with the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas about a two-state solution.