Budget 2017 live - key points: Tories pivot to public spending in bid to keep out Corbyn

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Welcome to The Independent’s liveblog with coverage of the response to Philip Hammond’s Budget.

The Chancellor was forced to admit that growth and productivity forecasts had been downgraded, with the Official for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting lower growth than at any time in its history.

It comes after the UK’s finances unexpectedly worsened last month after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing – stripping out state-owned banks – jumped by £500m to £8bn in October.

Despite this, Mr Hammond used the Budget to announce a splurge of new investment, including £3bn set aside for preparing for Brexit, an immediate £350m cash boost for the NHS, a £2.5bn investment fund and £500m support for the tech industry. This can partly be seen as a response to Labour's shock performance at the polls earlier this year, which has forced the Tories to do more to address rising anger at inequality, and try to quell support for Jeremy Corbyn.

A series of small giveaways had earlier been trailed by the Treasury, including extending discount railcards to 25-30 year-olds from next Spring and tackling overpayments of student loans.

This was a Budget in which Mr Hammond could not afford any major slip-ups. Tory MPs were nervous of a repeat of the excruciating U-turn on a key announcement in the Budget in Spring, where the Chancellor was forced to pull the plug on his plan to raise taxes for the self-employees through increased national insurance contributions after considerable pressure from Conservative MPs.

If there is any repeat of this, Mr Hammond's position in Number 11 will be very precarious indeed.

More criticism of the Budget - this time from the Liberal Democrats, who claim the £2.3 billion fund for research and development will barely make up for the funding UK companies currently receive from the European Investment Fund.

Susan Kramer, the party's Treasury spokesperson, said: 

“British firms are already finding their funding is drying up as Brexit looms, yet there is hardly a British tech company that hasn’t benefited from the European Investment Fund.

“It is no surprise that the pound plummeted during Philip Hammond's speech – if the Chancellor were on I’m a Celebrity, he would have been voted out of the Jungle.”

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:01

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:13

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:14

Everyone loves a chart and our Economics Editor, Ben Chu, has given you six of them. They're a mixed bag for the Government, with growth and productivity downgraded but debt also set to fall and deficit targets due to be met...

Here's Philip Hammond's Budget in six chartsPhilip Hammond has delivered the first Autumn Budget. There were announcements of growth downgrades, new spending pledges, some tax cuts and productivity revisions. But what is the big picture we should take away from this fiscal event? Here we tell the story of the 2017 Autumn Budget in six charts. Brutal productivity downgrades… The basis for all of the forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Treasury's official prognosticator, are its view of productivity, or the nation's output per hour worked.

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:17

Philip Hammond's Budget was enough to secure his job and ensure his political survival, writes Political Commentator Andrew Grice

This Budget wasn’t about the British people or ending austerity – it was about saving Philip Hammond’s careerWhen he began his Budget statement at 12.37pm today, Philip Hammond might well have been thinking about the old political maxim: your opponents are in front of you – but your enemies are behind you.

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:34

 Hmm - I'm not sure digital minister Matt Hancock thought that one through...

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:41

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:49

An explosive revelation hidden in the small print of the OBR's Budget briefing. The watchdog says the UK's budget deficit will not be cleared until 2013 - 16 YEARS later than the Conservatives originally promised. More on that breaking story: 

Britain's deficit won't be cleared until 2031 under Tory plansThe Budget deficit will not be wiped out on 2031, the Treasury watchdog has suggested – a staggering 16 years later than George Osborne originally pledged. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) rejected Philip Hammond’s claim that he was still on course to balance the books by about 2015 as increasingly “unlikely”. Instead, it suggested the most likely year was now 2030-31, based on policy decisions until 2023 and, after that, the trend rate of reduction. More follows…

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 16:55

That concludes the Independent's autumn budget 2017 liveblog. Thanks for following. There'll be more budget news on www.independent.co.uk throughout the evening.

Kristin Hugo22 November 2017 19:38

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