黑洞社区

13.39

鈥淓lected as a one nation government, today we deliver a spending review for a one nation government, the builders of a better Britain.鈥� Osborne sits down to cheers.

An interesting intial reaction from developer Hub residential: 鈥淲ith the government promising to subsidise homeownership for the masses, the Chancellor has effectively admitted that it can鈥檛 get the housing market under control. It appears that the housing policies of the past few decades have been an utter failure.鈥�

13.38

Osborne vows to protect the police, to huge cheers from the Tory benches. He鈥檚 winding up now

13.36

Osborne confirms the 400,000 homes figure trailed this morning in the press. 鈥淔or we are the builders,鈥� he says.

13.35

Another shock: Big stamp duty rise on buy to let property 鈥� a 3% additional charge fr those buying additional homes to let. He says 鈥渃orporate鈥� intestors will avoid this, though I鈥檓 sure the PRS lobby will be concerned.

13.34

Now on to housing: 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 done nearly enough yet.鈥� Bold plan to back familes that aspire to own their own home. Says he will double the housing budget to 拢2bn a year. Not just affordable to rent, but affordable to buy as well. Including a whole new policy: 135,000 homes under a new scheme, Help to Buy shared ownership, to be announced today 鈥� removing the restrictions on current shared ownership sales.

There will also be furhter reforms to planning system, releasing public land land for 160,000 homes. Also finance for small builders - no details given.

Also, another new policy: London Help to Buy. Londoners with 5% deposit will be able to get an interest free loan of up to 40% to help purchase of a house.

13.30

鈥淲e will close old Victorian prison in our cities, means we can spend over 拢1bn building nine modern prisons,鈥� he says. Holloway will close. In the future women will serve their sentences in more humane conditions.

13.28

Now on to apprenticeships and the large employer levy 鈥� 鈥淭oday I鈥檓 setting the rate at 0.5% of employer鈥檚 pay bill,鈥� he says. 98% of all employers will pay no levy at all, because of the way set up, he says. 鈥淭his will address one of the enduring weaknesses of the UK economy,鈥� he says.

13.26

We鈥檙e still waiting for a really big political gambit 鈥� beyond the huge backtrack on tax credits. Suspect Osborne to use housebuilding money as his set piece

13.25

This is significant 鈥� Osborne says he will spend 拢23bn on school building over the course of the parliament. This is 拢2bn more than the 拢21bn figure promised at the 2013 spending review. It鈥檚 not clear if the increase simply reflects an uprating according to inflation, or if it reflects a bigger real terms investment, or just reflects higher construction costs for new schools.

13.22

鈥淲e will be even bolder in our reform of public services in the next five years.鈥� Free child care previously promised will have significant restrictions on it, he announces.

13.20

鈥淭ampon Tax鈥� is not a phrase I ever thought I鈥檇 hear Osborne say. He promises to spend 拢20m VAT raised on sanitary products on women鈥檚 charities, following a campaign to remove it.

13.19

Talking of a Labour MP鈥檚 contribution, Osborne has a fairly crude joke at Corbyn鈥檚 expense: 鈥淗is campaign contributes to Arts, while his front bench contributes to comedy.鈥� Gets a big laugh.

13.15

Two big announcement here that will worry many contractors working in energy: Firstly, 鈥渞eform鈥� of the Renewable Heat Incentive to save 拢700m, and secondly a replacement for ECO 鈥� a new scheme that will save 拢30 off the bills of energy customers. 鈥淕oing green should not cost the earth,鈥� says Osborne. in a web story yesterday.

13.14

Osborn鈥檈 announces a doubling spend on energy research 鈥� small modular nuclear reactors in particular. Support for low carbon electricity and renewables will also double. 鈥淲e are increasing our support for climate finance by 50% over the next five years.鈥�

13.12

Economic infrastructure. Investment in new roads, railways, flood investments this nation needs. DfT operation budget fall by 37%, but capital spending increase by 51%. Funds the largest roads investment programme since the 1970, 鈥渂ecause we are the builders鈥�.

Construction of HS2 can begin. Electrification can begin. London will get 拢11bn investment in transport infrastructure. 拢250bn for roads in Kent to address 鈥渙peration stack鈥�. Britain will also have a permanent pot-hole fund.

Flood investment - 拢250m.

13.10

City deals due for Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness, Osborne says.

13.08

Here鈥檚 the section on devolution. Osborne says: 鈥淚n recent weeks great metropolitan areas have joined Manchester in agreeing to Metropolitan elected mayors.鈥� Today setting aside 拢12bn we promised for a local growth fund.

He also pledges 26 Enterprise zones 鈥� new or extended.

As trailed in Osborne鈥檚 conference speech, he says: 鈥淲e will abolish the uniform business rate 鈥� by the end of the parliament councils will have full control of business rates. And be able to levy additional rates on specific infrastructure projects where supported by the local business community.鈥�

鈥淭his anount to a big package of new powers. It鈥檚 a revolution,鈥� he says. Adds that councils will have as much in cash terms at the end of the parliament as they do today.

13.04

In recent weeks great metorploitan areas have joined Manchester in agreeing to Metroplotian eelected mayors. Today setting aside 拢12bn we promised local growth fund.

26 Enterprise zones 鈥� new or extended.

We will abolish the uniform business rate 鈥� by the end of the parliamenet councils will have full control of business rates. And be able to levy additional rates on specific infrastructure projects where supported by the local business community.

13.02

Another surprise: A 鈥渟ocial care precept鈥� of 2% on council tax for local authorities that want to spend more on social care. Interesting after the coalition made much in the last parliament of keeping Council Tax down.

13.00

Osborne is now outlining the changes to NHS funding, which has been widely trailed. He says nothing about investment in NHS estate and infrastructure.

12.57

One of these priorities, he says, is 鈥淎 devolution revolution and investment in our nation鈥檚 infrastructure.鈥�

12.56

The decisions required to make these savings are not easy. 鈥淥ur approach to reform and rebuild鈥�

12.55

The proportion of the economy which is public sector will be 36.5% by end of spending review. Osborne says the 鈥渟tructural level of this spending is the right level for a well managed economy, and it鈥檚 the level the British people have shown they are willing to afford.鈥� That鈥檚 a deeply political point as most on the left think anything below 40% implies very limited public services.

12.52

Osborne will now outline taxation plans - but the changes seem mainly technical, beyond a huge cut to HMRC鈥檚 own budget for tax administration. The Treasury itself will have a 24% cut to its administration costs.

12.51

Osborne makes a technical point about social housing rents 鈥� but doesn鈥檛 spell out what it means. Rumours prior to the speech suggests this will mean a further reduction in the rents they can charge, to inflation minus 2% each year of the parliament. If so it will have a major impact on the number of homes they can build. We鈥檒l have to wait for the documents to be published before knowing for sure.

12.47

Wow 鈥� first big political bombshell 鈥� Osborne effectively abandons tax credit changes. Says it will not matter, because the move to Universal Credit will see tax credits phased out anyway

12.46

Says the government will spend 拢12bn more on capital spending than forecast over the parliament 鈥� this is a key figure for the industry

12.44

On public debt, Osborne reveals the impact of the ONS鈥檚 reclassification of housing associationHousing associations in England have been brought on to the public balance sheet, and therefore the OBR has recalculated its previous forecast. Forecast to be 83% of national income, now forecast to be 82.5%

12.42

Osborne says 1 million jobs to be created over the next five years, and living standard to rise every year

12.41

Osborne says OBR has revised world growth down. Economy grow 2.4% this year, and has been revised up (up!) in the next two years 鈥� before returning back to long term trend growth

12.40

鈥淒etermined this will be an economic recovery for all.鈥� Says the north recovering quicker than the south; the midlands is creating jobs three times more quickly than in London.

12.38

Osborne is ramping up the expectation on his measures: 鈥淔ar-reaching changes to what the state does and how it does it.鈥� Says this will include in providing homes for families. 鈥淭his is a big spending review for a government that does big things.鈥�

12.37

He says 鈥淭his year our debt will fall.鈥� 鈥淭he 拢12bn of welfare savings will be delivered in full, in a way that helps families.鈥�

12.36

Osborne rises. 鈥淒elivers on promise to put security first. To live within our means and bring down our debt.鈥�

鈥淥pportunity for all, aspirations for families. Today our job is to rebuild Britain. So it becomes the most prosperous and secure of all the major nations of the world.鈥�

12.27

We鈥檙e already getting reaction to the housing briefings in this morning鈥檚 papers 鈥� and there is already a common theme emerging. Adam Challis 鈥� Head of Residential Research at JLL says: 鈥淭he chancellor鈥檚 support for 400,000 new affordable homes is welcomed at a time when there is a dire need to expand housing construction right across the country. This Government鈥檚 narrow focus on home ownership is a serious concern however.鈥�

Jeremy Blackburn, RICS Head of Policy, says: 鈥淎 push towards affordable home ownership should not come at the expense of affordable homes for rent. If cities such as London are to thrive, we need to ensure that housing can be provided for all of its workforce - home ownership can only go so far and even shared ownership may prove too expensive for some.  

12.24

We already know a fair bit about broadly what he is going to say, but very few details. The FT today is leading with a 拢6.9bn splash by the chancellor on housebuilding to be unveiled, in order to build 400,000 鈥渁ffordable鈥� houses, mostly for sale. However, as there is no time-frame put on this announcement or sense of the scope of this figure, it is very hard to see how it compares to the current 拢1.1bn run-rate for affordable housing.

Osborne has also said he will announce 拢100bn of infrastructure spending today, though again, the timeframe is so unclear it is hard to know what this really means 鈥� and whether any of it is money that has already been pencilled in for spending.

He will also give an update on the 鈥渓arge employers levy鈥� for apprenticeships, which has been causing so much consternation at the CITB. The latest rumours suggest we will see Osborne define what he means by a 鈥渓arge employer鈥� today, and whether there will be variable rates of levy depending upon size of business. However, it remains unclear whether the issue of how the levy interacts with the current construction industry levy will be addressed.

12.15

Welcome to 黑洞社区鈥檚 live coverage of the Autumn Statement and Comprehensive Spending Review.

Chancellor George Osborne has, in the words of Cherie Blair, got a lot of balls in the air this afternoon. Technically he has got to do two important things to do today 鈥� the announcement will include both the bi-annual update on the state of the UK鈥檚 economy and finances provided in the Autumn Statement as well as the much more important plan for departmental spending for the coming parliament. This obviously, will have to include the much-trailed 拢12bn of cuts he has to make to meet his own election pledges.

But of course his life has been made much harder by two significant issues: firstly, his plan for cutting tax credits has been mauled by many critics and voted against in the House of Lords. This was supposed to save him 拢4bn of spending and changes will have to be addressed. Secondly, public finances have worsened since his summer Budget, in part because of the technicality that 拢60bn of housing association borrowing will now have to be included on the public debt, and in part because of greater than expected deficits being run up by UK hospitals.

, from a couple of weeks ago, on the challenges he faces.

黑洞社区 deputy editor Joey Gardiner will be updating this as we go along today 鈥� so keep refreshing for the most up-to-date

news and analysis of today鈥檚 speech, which kicks off at 12.30.

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