First of all, here’s what won’t be in this year’s Autumn Statement—Liam Fox, David Davis, Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, Andrea Leadsom, Michael Gove or any other Brexiteer announcing an end to VAT on fuel bills; or an extra £350m per week for the Treasury to spend on the NHS. And we’re unlikely to see it in the Autumn Statements of 2017 or 2018 either. Why? Because those pledges aren’t deliverable and the “Leave” supporters knew it.
So, what might the Chancellor Philip Hammond be able to say five months after the 23rd June vote which revealed a disunited kingdom, where many feel the country isn’t working for them? Now we know we won’t have a surplus by 2020, there should be more room to pay for the things that people care about. But there will first of all be the updated post-Brexit Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) numbers to deal with. At the moment, every statistic is being analysed to see if the “Leave” campaigners’ optimism or the Remainers’ doom and gloom view was justified. As a former Treasury Minster I know that if the OBR numbers are positive, then attention will shift to the Autumn Statement’s detailed announcements. If they hint at problems then the focus will remain on the numbers.
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