Spring Statement will be on 13 March 2018

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has told MPs on the Treasury Select Committee that the next fiscal statement, which is now called the Spring Statement, will be on 13 March 2018.

For the past 20 years, the chancellor has delivered the Budget in the spring.

However, Mr Hammond has changed that so the Budget is now in the autumn.

Mr Hammond said the Spring Statement would not be a "major fiscal event", but would discuss longer-term issues.

It would also set out the latest official economic forecasts.

Budget 2017: So, farewell then Spring Budget...

Mr Hammond delivered his second Budget as chancellor on 22 November and the first in March of this year.

He said last year that he wanted to simplify the whole business of setting taxes and government spending, which had become too complicated, involving not just one, but sometimes two Budgets a year.

So, he announced, spring Budgets would become autumn ones, while the other big set-piece event, the Autumn Statement, would switch to the Spring.

This statement would be a response to forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.