Autumn Statement: Energy price cap increase dampens Hunt’s ‘tax cuts’ as he denies pre-election handout – live

Keir Starmer has hit out at Jeremy Hunt’s claim his autumn statement will “turbo charge” economic growth, Kate Devlin reports.

The Labour leader slammed high NHS waiting lists, which he said were holding the country back.

AT PMQs he asked Rishi Sunak how if a worker has “to wait a year for an operation … are they supposed to grow the economy?”

He also condemned the high numbers waiting for mental health care.

This includes 200,000 children with some waiting nearly two years to be seen.

Starmer says increased waiting lists are not evidence of the government “getting things done”, as Sunak claimed at the end of his last answer.

“He’s through the looking glass this one,” he adds.

The Labour leader then reminds MPs that Sunak did not answer how many people were on mental health waiting lists.

He says Sunak knows the answer but doesn’t want to give it - “1.2 million, 200,000 are children”.

Starmer adds some of those children have been waiting two years.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the government’s plan for the British economy is “working” but added that the “work is not done”, as he began his autumn statement.

Jeremy Hunt started his autumn statement by claiming: “Our plan for the British economy is working, but the work is not done”, Adam Forrest reports.

“We have supported families with rising bills, cut borrowing and halved inflation. The economy has grown. Real incomes have risen,” said the chancellor.

He said the Conservatives “reduce debt, cut taxes and reward work” and said his party “know that a dynamic economy depends less on the decisions and diktats of ministers than on the energy and enterprise of the British people”.

Mr Hunt also started his speech with a joke. “It’s my wife’s birthday. Unlike me, she’s looking younger every year.”

The government will “reduce debt, cut taxes and reward work”, the Chancellor said.

Jeremy Hunt told the Commons: “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 – which remove planning red tape, speed up access to the national grid, support entrepreneurs raising capital, get behind our fastest growing industries, unlock foreign direct investment, boost productivity, reform welfare, level up opportunity to every corner of the country, and cut business taxes.”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt expressed his “horror” at the attack on Israeli citizens on October and the subsequent loss of life on both sides.

He said: “I am deeply concerned about the rise of antisemitism in our country, so I am announcing up to £7 million over the next three years for organisations like the Holocaust Educational Trust to tackle antisemitism in schools and universities.

“I will also repeat the £3 million uplift to the Community Security Trust.

“When it comes to antisemitism and all forms of racism, we must never allow the clock to be turned back.”

Jeremy Hunt also confirmed in-work benefits will rise in line with September’s inflation figure of 6.7 per cent, Archie Mitchell reports.

The chancellor had considered using the lower 4.6 per cent inflation figure from October to uplift inflation, in a bid to save £3bn.

But on Wednesday Mr Hunt confirmed those claiming the benefits would see their rate increased in line with September’s higher figure as usual.

Mr Hunt said it would represent an increase of £470 for 5.5 million households next year, describing it as "vital support to those on the very lowest incomes".

The chancellor announced that the state pension will rise by 8.5 per cent from April, in line with the so-called ‘triple-lock’, Kate Devlin reports.

The pledge was brought in by David Cameron when he was prime minister.  It means the rate is increased by average earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent – whichever is highest.

The chancellor had considered “tweaking” the formula, to strip out bonuses, a move that would have allowed him to increase pensions by 7.8 per cent.

But that prompted negative headlines and an internal row within the Conservative party.

The chancellor has announced a freeze on alcohol duty, Archie Mitchell reports.

The duty on many spirits and wines rose in August in the first increase since 2020 – but the chancellor has now frozen the rate under pressure from the hospitality industry.

It will remain frozen until next August and Jeremy Hunt also reaffirmed the government’s so-called Brexit pubs guarantee, meaning pints in pubs are taxed less than those bought from shops.

The chancellor said the UK would meet its goal of having debt falling as a percentage of GDP.

Jeremy Hunt told the Commons that the economy had “outperformed expectations” since last year’s autumn statement, adding: “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 continue to have the second lowest government debt in the G7 – lower than the United States, Canada, France, Italy or Japan.”