Chancellor scraps Autumn Statement and will replace it with a full Budget late in the year instead
Philip Hammond announced that this year's 2016 Autumn Statement will be the last - he has swapped the Spring Budget and the Autumn Statement around
PHILIP HAMMOND has scrapped the Autumn Statement, and the main Budget will now take place in the autumn instead.
At the recommendation of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), there will now be a Spring Statement instead, and the Budget will move to later in the year.
"This change will allow for greater parliamentary scrutiny of Budget measures," Mr Hammond said today. He said he did not want to announce significant changes twice a year "just for the sake of it".
Spring 2017 will be the last Budget that will be held at that time of the year, usually around March. There will then be a second Budget in Autumn 2017 to switch to the new timetable.
The following year, in 2018, a Spring Statement will be given.
The Government say that the UK is the only major advanced economy that makes changes to the tax system twice a year, and this move will mean more stability.
The Finance Bill will still follow the Budget, which means we will hear about any new Bills to come through Parliament in the autumn instead.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is required by law to issue two forecasts every year.
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Some MPs have questioned what the point of the whole thing will be.
Labour's Ian Murray said sarcastically that the swap was "inspiring!!!!" and Owen Thompson said "how profound".
Mr Hammond also announced he will be scrapping all three of George Osborne's fiscal rules.
The former Chancellor said there would be a budget surplus bu 2019, that debt would fall each year, and spending on welfare would be below the cash limits set in July 2015.
Now the new three rules will be:
- Fiscal mandate: structural defecit below 2% of GDP in 2020-21
- Debt falls as % of GDP in 2021-22
- Welfare cap: spending below cash limit in 2021-22
Britain's struggling workers were given a boost in today's Autumn Statement. He announced a ban on rip-off home rental fees, a 30p hike in the National Living Wage and a u-turn on cuts to Universal Credit.