Following on from that call about rail infrastructure in London, Labour MP for Leicester West, Liz Kendall, tweets: 

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

More reaction to the chancellor's expected announcement on banning estate agent letting fees:

Shares in estate agent Foxtons Group are now trading almost 10% lower, bringing the decline this year to more than 40%. 

Investors are worried that the chancellor's pledge to ban upfront letting fees will hit profits.

Image source, Getty Images

Commenting on the plans expected to be announced by the chancellor in the Autumn Statement today, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady says:

“A raise to the national minimum wage for over-25s will help some low-paid workers. But the government must also take the opportunity to boost the pay of hard-pressed nurses, teachers, firefighters and home helps, who face ten years of flatlining pay.”

BBC Newsnight

Want to know more about the man behind the Autumn Statement? 

Newsnight political editor Nicholas Watt has been speaking to his some of his closest friends and colleagues for this profile.

Image source, Getty Images

Neil Wilson, analyst at ETX Capital says that the Chancellor's ban on charging fees to tenants is a "hammer blow to embattled estate agents", whose shares opened sharply lower this morning.

"Passing on the cost to landlords could drive down fees by improving competition, although estate agents claim they make no money from fees," he says. 

He adds: "Estate agents have suffered since the Brexit vote – shares in Foxtons are still trading down around 30% from their pre-referendum level amid falling client activity."

But Alan Ward, chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, warned tenants could suffer through the reform, as it might push up rents. 

“Agents’ fees have to be paid by somebody. If any extra fees are passed on to landlords, tenants will end up paying them forever as market rents will increase," he says.

The announcement seems to be quite a handbrake turn for the government.

As late as September housing minister Gavin Barwell was saying that banning letting agent fees would be a "bad idea" as the costs would be passed on to tenants.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Think tank the Resolution Foundation has welcomed "micro tweaks" the Treasury has announced ahead of the Autumn Statement.

The think tank wants better pay for just managing families - or as the government likes to call them, JAMs.

Director Torsten Bell welcomed the ban on letting agents' fees and increasing the minimum wage.

However, he told Today the promised investment in Universal Credit will do little to offset already promised cuts to the benefit.  

And the "bigger picture today" was the forecasts for lower growth and higher borrowing, which for real people would translate as lower real wages.

BBC Business Live

The big news from today's Autumn Statement will be exactly how bad the public finances will be over the coming years, says BBC business editor Simon Jack.

"The original plan as early as March this year was that the government wouldn't have to borrow any money at all by 2020; in fact, it would be getting more in taxes than it was spending. Now that's already been ditched as unrealistic, and what we're going to be looking at is exactly how much money they'll be borrowing per year by the end of this parliament," he says.

"Some of the number crunchers reckon that will be £25bn per year, so that's adding £25bn every year to a debt pile that the chancellor has already called 'eye-watering' - so what will be interesting is his language about when he wants to balance the books, and over what timeframe. Expect a lot of aspirations today, because aspirations are free, and spending is not."

Readers on the BBC News Facebook, external page have been reacting to announcements on housing and letting fees. Here are some of their comments:

• Robert Griggs – Affordable housing? Funny!! Good news about letting agent fees though. Just a load of rip off merchants in an industry that desperately needs an overhaul.
• John Hadley – Devil is in the detail with letting agent fees. They will call it something else and continue to charge it. 

• Tristan Davies – Does the ‘affordable’ housing pledges count as fake news? 

• Mark Wilkinson – Affordable housing = substandard, poorly built crap that still costs far more than they’re worth.

• Roxy Carlin – Letting agent fees banned… great call!

The pound is lower this morning after losing momentum during yesterday's session. 

FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga says the heavily anticipated Autumn Statement could cause sterling volatility later. 

"With the sensitive Brexit situation still a dominant theme in the markets, today’s Autumn Statement could provide a unique touch. If the economic forecasts for next year highlight the Brexit impacts and paint a gloomy picture, then sterling could be exposed to further downside risks," he says. 

"On the other hand, an aggressive outlook pointing to a stronger economic recovery may recreate another mystery move on sterling similar to Monday’s sharp upsurge."

This is perhaps not entirely surprising: #AutumnStatement is currently the top trend on Twitter in the UK...

Image source, Getty Images

The chancellor's Autumn Statement pledge to ban upfront letting fees has caused shares in British estate agents to tumble. 

Foxtons has slumped 13.3%, Countrywide is down 6.8%, Savills is down 1.1% and Purplebricks is down 6.1%.

The change in policy, due to be announced later on Wednesday by Chancellor Philip Hammond, is designed to help low earners avoid additional costs when renting.

BBC Business Live

The chancellor does not have "a lot of wiggle room" for giveaways in his Autumn Statement, says Kate Andrews, news editor at free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs.

"He's in a tough spot because growth forecasts are down according to the Office of Budget Responsibility, and he's also potentially looking at some higher inflation figures, which is why I think we're seeing some stranger things in this Budget that have been released so far. For example, the big headlines this morning are the fact that he's going to try to ban letting fees. Well, this is something where the chancellor can come in, and basically not have to commit any of his own spending to doing something that seems like it's trying to help those who are just managing, but of course, this is him basically skirting round the issue of the housing crisis altogether."

London's blue chip index is up ahead of the Autumn Statement, helped by the ongoing rebound in commodity prices and another strong performance by US indices yesterday.   

In early trade the index is 0.71%, or 48.52 points, higher at 6,868.24 points. 

As on Tuesday miners are riding high, buoyed by higher oil and copper prices. 

Fresnillo is up 2.9%, Randgold Resources is 2.5% higher, while Glencore is up 2.3%.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Max McDonald is a director at Gerald McDonald, a family-run firm in Basildon which imports fruit juices and spices. 

The fall in the pound since the referendum has hit the business hard - and there is little the government will be able to do about this in today's Autumn Statement. 

"At the moment we have got the double whammy of the exchange rate weakening and for some commodities the price going up," says Mr McDonald. 

"So if the exchange rate has fallen by 20% and the price has gone up 30%, that's a 50% increase in prices potentially.

"You just don't know what is going to happen - the government might pull a rabbit out of the hat and we'll get an amazing trade agreement."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Rupert Harrison was George Osborne's chief economic advisor and now advises investment fund Blackrock.

"With your first Autumn Statement, this is the baseline against which you are going to be judged at all future events - have your numbers got worse or better?

"The incentive now is to get all the bad news out. So as well as the changes to the [economic forecasts] I think we'll have a bit of clearing the decks. 

"Maybe some savings that the Treasury knows aren't quite going to be delivered - now would be the moment to dump all of that."