The Chancellor unveiled a raft of upbeat data pointing to the recovery gaining momentum, with record numbers in work, borrowing falling and house prices forecast to soar by 5.2 per cent next year.

George Osborne revealed that the 0.5 per cent stamp duty savers have to pay for buying shares in UK-based exchange-traded funds will be abolished from next April.

In a blow for the Chancellor who used the Autumn Statement to unveil a raft of populist giveaways, 60 per cent thought it was good for ‘rich people’.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced that pensioners will get the chance to boost their incomes in a six month window between October 2015 and April 2016.

Call for a freelancer limited company structure to be set up within the tax system and for training for a new career to be tax deductable.

Oil price decline provides a key backcloth to the budget. It will keep downward pressure on inflation, and offers the prospect that the decline in real earnings could start to be reversed.

The Chancellor insists there will be no political tax breaks because Britain must ‘stay the course to prosperity’.

The purchasing managers’ index of activity in the UK construction sector dipped from 61.4 in October to 59.4 in November, which is still well above the 50 mark that divides growth and decline.

The annual deficit has fallen from the record £153bn racked up by Labour in 2009-10 to £97.5bn last year, but progress has now all but stalled as tax receipts disappoint.

Annuities which come with death benefits can be passed to loved ones tax-free if you die aged under 75, the Chancellor announced in the Autumn statement.

Income tax free personal allowance to rise to £10,600 rather than the planned £10,500 next year. Higher rate income tax threshold to rise to £42,385 next year.

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The Deputy Prime Minister spurned the chance to hear the Chancellor's statement in person and instead headed to Cornwall to announce funding for coastal defences.

The stinging criticism from former Home Office minister Jeremy Browne came after the deputy leader shunned Wednesday’s Autumn Statement.

Critics argue these initiatives would not be necessary if the banks were doing their job instead of persisting in their reluctance to lend to small companies.

The big omissions from a Budget or an Autumn Statement are always revealing. It used to be help for savers. This week the missing element was the squeezed middle. Not households, but firms.

As analysts digested the detail of the Chancellor’s ‘mini-Budget’ the ramifications of reforms to stamp duty, business rates and the North Sea tax regime became clearer…

Geoff Parkes, teaching fellow at Aston Business School in Birmingham, said: ‘Thus far, the scheme has accounted for less than two per cent of all lending to small firms.’

Profits made from the sale of assets such as property or shares, which are called capital gains, rose to £32.1billion last year, up from £23.5billion in 2012-13, marking their highest level on record.

Three major changes to pension saving are on the horizon, which will hit those helping to build a healthy fund for retirement. Now, the Chancellor faces calls to reverse a planned tax grab

The Chancellor has pledged to eliminate the record deficit racked up by Labour during the financial crisis and return the country to the black by the end of the decade.

Chancellor George Osborne will use tomorrow’s spending review to announce that the Health Service will receive an extra £6billion straight away – rising to £10billion a year by 2020.

Border systems will be upgraded to better target weapons being smuggled into the country while a joint operation centre will see police, intelligence agencies and the military to work more closely.

Today George Osborne will reveal details of his Autumn Statement. We round-up what to expect, including his tax credit headache and the predicted pension changes.

Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed the basic state pension will rise by £3.35 to £119.30 a week from April, while the starting rate for the new single-tier version will be £155.65.

Anyone with a household income of less than £80,000 in England will soon be able to buy a home through shared ownership, which has long been restricted to key workers.

UK Sport has been handed a shock 29 per cent increase in funding, handing a boost to British athletes preparing for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo four years later.

George Osborne says household energy bills will fall by an average of £30 by 2017 as a result of reducing green levies, as outlined in his Autumn Statement this afternoon.

The NHS, defence, foreign aid and housing are set to be the big winners, but the police, transport, justice and the environment will bear the brunt, with families braced for big hikes in council tax bills.

Public funding - known as Short Money - given to opposition parties to prepare to become an alternative government is to be slashed by 19 per cent, in line with Whitehall departments.

The Prime Minister took a few seconds out from the 65-minute brief to subtly unravel the treat and pop it into his mouth like a mischievous schoolboy.

To raise £18billion in spending cuts over the five years, George Osborne slashed departments by up to 37 per cent but the NHS, defence and international development are the big winners.

The Autumn Statement contained some good news for entrepreneurs as George Osborne pledged to carry on exempting micro companies from paying business rates.

George Osborne showed himself a master of his political trade in yesterday's Autumn Statement - but seems to have abandoned his early enthusiasm for slimming down the size of the state.

The climbdown means George Osborne (pictured) will breach his self-imposed welfare cap for the next three years, meaning a minister must explain and apologise to Parliament.

Draconian rises signalled by the Chancellor will see the average bill for a Band D household rise up to £320 by 2020/21. George Osborne urged town halls to impose increase to fund social care shortfalls.

HMP Holloway in north London, which has been home to some of Britain's most infamous killers, will be sold off as part of a £1.3billion government overhaul of the UK prison service

Chancellor George Osborne landed buy-to-let and second homes a huge shock by announcing a stamp duty surcharge on property purchases from April.

George Osborne hit the buy-to-let dream with a big stamp duty hike yesterday, but landlords still have a tax trick they can pull to claim it back.

Part-time students have been handed some good news in today's Autumn Statement with access to maintenance loans to help with living costs during their studies from 2017/18.

He has repeatedly slashed domestic spending, but the Chancellor remains committed to funnelling 0.7 per cent of Britain's GDP into an array of dubious overseas aid projects.

In his Autumn Statement and Spending Review, Mr Osborne claimed he is tackling the 'crisis in home ownership' head-on with the 'biggest housebuilding programme since the 1970s.'

Theresa May has told Chancellor Philip Hammond to make middle and low-income families in the UK a priority in next week’s Autumn Statement.

Theresa May has told Chancellor Philip Hammond to make middle and low-income families a priority in next week’s Autumn Statement.

Ahead of the Autumn Statement a study has warned that planned welfare curbs and rising inflation are set to deal a major blow to the 'just about managing' group - or 'JAMs'.

The Chancellor will use tomorrow’s Autumn Statement to pledge that two million homes in bigger towns and cities will get access to gold standard ‘full-fibre’ broadband, which can download TV shows.

Things appear to be changing for the better for the economy - and just in the nick of the time for the Chancellor as he prepares to give his first major report later today.

Defying Brexit doomsayers, the deficit came in at £4.3billion in October - below the £6billion expected. The figures emerged on the eve of Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement.

Insurers have slammed the rise which has pushed the tax up to almost double what it was in 2015 and they predict it will lead to an increase in the number of uninsured drivers on the road.

The analysis, reaction and charts from the experts and our own journalists from throughout the day.