BBC News Channel

How was the chancellor able to claim in his speech that raising the personal allowance by £100 would put £825 in people's pockets? Danny Alexander clarified on the News Channel that the £825 was the accumulated benefit of all the increases that the coalition has made in the personal allowance since 2010.

The Labour MP for North West Durham and member of the Education Select Committee tweets, external: Am I hearing right? This govt increased the debt in 5 yrs more than Labour did in 13 & govt borrowing is going to increase this year again!!

Rich Hinchliffle emails: I have worked hard to get a good job after 10 years of military service only to be faced with a 66% hike in my stamp duty. I now have to sell my car to pay the extra tax. I could cry.

BBC News Channel

Andrew Neil (BBC presenter) gives Danny Alexander (chief secretary to the Treasury) a hard time on the News Channel, arguing that the government's claim to have halved the Budget deficit is bogus if you look at the cut in terms of cash and not as a percentage of GDP.

Andy Verity
Business reporter

"@bbcnews Tax receipts this financial year now forecast to be £7bn lower than previously (OBR report - p.115). Both income tax and VAT lower ... OBR says the fall in tax receipts - down 0.5% this year as a proportion of GDP - is half down to weak wage growth and half to tax cuts"

The Labour MP for Wakefield and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development tweets, external: Borrowing up by £5 billion this year and up by £7 billion next year. Tories have failed on deficit reduction. Debt rises next year to 81.1%

BBC News Channel

Kamal Ahmed, BBC business editor, describes the autumn statement as "very political" and highlights two big changes in the Autumn Statement. The first is the 25% tax on multinational technology firms (like Google and Amazon) who have been accused of avoiding UK corporation tax by shifting their taxable profits abroad. And secondly the big cut in the ability of banks to offset their huge past losses against future taxable profits.

Neil from Belfast texts: I am delighted with the autumn statement. The chancellor has just saved us £1,100 in stamp duty. The measures announced today are all designed with growth in mind.

Conservative chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Andrew Tyrie, says "just doing a bit better than the Eurozone is not enough" and "we need a globally competitive tax system".

Mr Osborne replies "we are climbing up the ranks" of competitive tax regimes.

Andrew Montlake, of London-based mortgage brokers Coreco, says: "Moving to a more sensible system that works in much the same way as income tax means that many buyers will from midnight tonight, suddenly have some more cash in their pocket. For example someone purchasing at £550,000 will now pay £17,500 rather than £22,000."

Image source, ONS

Here's a chart showing government borrowing past and present. We learnt from the Autumn Statement today that the government expects to borrow more than £91bn this year, more than forecast in March's budget. A surplus is forecast for 2018-19, but a lot could happen before then.

In the middle of buying or selling a home? If you have exchanged contracts, but not completed the deal by midnight tonight, the chancellor said: "you will be able to choose whether to pay under the old system or the new, so no one in the middle of moving house will lose out."

Samuel Tombs
senior UK economist, Capital Economics

"The early indications from the UK Autumn Statement are that the Chancellor has resisted the temptation to hand households any significant tax cuts before next May's general election. The tax and spending measures - the most significant of which is the reform of the stamp duty - ... amount to only a small net giveaway of just £1bn in 2015/16 and a small tightening beyond. "

Jon Bish emails: There are some positives, but I can't help it but see it's just a repeat of old excuses when it comes to the deficit and national debt. "We didn't quite meet out targets but... If we keep cutting then in 2-3 years things will start looking better". Just how much more can be cut from public spending before you start having a serious effect on the quality of life?

On stamp duty, Mr Balls says he's glad the chancellor has "now accepted high-value properties are being under-taxed" but wants to know why he won't match Labour's commitment to an annual charge on the most valuable houses.

Richard Westcott
BBC transport correspondent

Easyjet will give you an APD refund if you've already bought a ticket (for travel after April 2015).

Mr Osborne said of his reform of stamp duty: "It increases the taxes on the most expensive 2% of homes." Note though. The new stamp duty will still be paid by the buyer of a property, not the seller who may of course be enjoying a huge windfall profit driven by past house price inflation.

The biggest cost in the Autumn Statement is the change to stamp duty which will cost the Treasury (in lost tax) £730m next year, according to OBR figures. That is offest by the changes to the way banks can benefit from previous losses via the tax system, which is expected to earn an extra £695m next year.

Kevin Yates from Lymm emails: We want a northern powerhouse in Manchester, just not a Northern Boris to embarrass us all.

Now it's shadow chancellor Ed Balls' turn, and he starts by focusing on slow wage growth, claiming: "For working people, there is a cost of living crisis."