"This Conservative government has plunged the economy into chaos, and now they're asking ordinary families to pay for their incompetence."

She asks: "Who voted for this?"

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says that the OBR says inflation will be lower, bringing down pressure on mortgages. He says the UK voted for Conservatives to make "tough economic decisions".

Image source, PA Media

In the House of Commons, the SNP's Alison Thewliss says despite efforts by Hunt to fix the mistakes of his predecessor, the reality is we'll be living with Trussonomics for some time.

The Tories are trying to cut their way out of a recession which won't work, she adds, adding that Scotland being "short changed" again despite a funding increase announcement.

She also refers to comments from an economist who said this week, if it wasn't for Brexit, we wouldn't be talking about an austerity budget. Thewliss said Scotland didn't choose either.

Hunt responds that the SNP MP is complaining about economic instability damaging business in Scotland but "she supports the most destabilising policy of all which is separation from the UK".

One million people in Scotland voted for Brexit, she says, adding that "separation means more to her than anything else in politics".

"Families in Scotland today heard other things, they hear £600m for the Scottish NHS, £385m for schools, over £4bn to help Scottish families with their energy bills - that's because we're more than neighbours, we're family and Conservatives always back families," Hunt says.

Robert Cuffe
Head of statistics

The independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, also estimates that freezing tax thresholds from 2021-22 will see an additional 3.2 million new tax payers.

About 2.6 million people will also face paying the higher tax rate by 2027-28.

At the time of its last forecast in March, it was expecting about 2.5 million extra tax payers and two million extra higher-rate tax payers would filter in.

The change since is partially due to soaring costs, but also partially down to the chancellor’s decision to extend the threshold freeze for two years.

Dharshini David
Economics Correspondent

Recessions are never pleasant - but this one may be particularly painful. Not only do the official forecasts say we’re already seeing economic activity shrink but it will contract by 1.4% next year.

In short, the next couple of years will wipe out the growth in living standards, real (post-inflation) incomes after tax per person, will on average, drop to their lowest levels since 2014.

A decade of improvements in prosperity will have been wiped out, hammered by higher prices and rising job losses expected to total over 500,000.

But the OBR reckons it could have been even worse without the help from the energy support packages, which has cushioned some – but far from all - of the blow.

Image source, .

As Jeremy Hunt sat down, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) released its latest forecasts for the UK economy and government spending.

It has said that the soaring prices will hit household's disposable income - after accounting for inflation - by the largest amount since official records began in 1956-57.

While MPs cheered announcements like extra support with energy bills today, other parts of the OBR's latest report suggested there could be tough times ahead. It says:

• Britain's economy is already in recession and set to shrink by 1.4% next year, largely because of the soaring cost of living
• More than half a million people will lose their jobs as a result
• The UK national debt will be £400bn higher than forecast in March

It has, however, also slightly boosted the total growth expected for the UK economy this year to 4.2%, up from 3.8% in its last statement in March.

We'll bring you more as we continue to crunch through the numbers.

Here's a clip from the start of Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement. The chancellor said he would deliver a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis and "rebuild our economy".

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

The backbenches have thinned out now the chancellor and shadow chancellor have finished their statements.

So far, Jeremy Hunt has had a pretty warm reception from his backbench Tory MPs - lots of cheers, and not much dissent. But behind the scenes there may be a few flashpoints bubbling.

We heard from Tory MP Esther McVey yesterday that she wouldn’t back tax rises if the government was going to go ahead with spending money on the HS2 railway project. That’s something the chancellor has committed to.

We’ve heard too about public spending cuts, but we don’t yet know that much about where these may fall until the next spending review.

Ministers will be keen to make sure their individual departments aren’t bearing the biggest brunt, which could be another future point of tension.

Let's take a closer look at one of the changes made by the chancellor.

The threshold for when the highest earners start paying the top rate of tax will be brought down from £150,000 to £125,140. So more people will pay that higher rate.

What about other tax bands? Have a look at the chart below.

Image source, .

Let's rewind a bit and take a look back at what we've heard from Jeremy Hunt today:

Taxation and wages:

• The threshold for when the highest earners start paying the top rate of income tax will be brought down from £150,000 to £125,140
• Income tax, personal allowance and higher rate thresholds will be frozen for a further two years, until April 2028 - this means that millions of people will pay more in tax when their incomes rise

• The main National Insurance and inheritance tax thresholds will be frozen for a further two years, until April 2028
• The National Living Wage will be increased from £9.50 an hour for over-23s to £10.42 from April next year
• Tax-free allowances for dividend and capital gains tax is due to be cut next year and in 2024

Energy:

• Help for energy bills will be extended, but it will be less generous from April next year
• There will be targeted support with the cost of living for those on low incomes, disability and pensioners

• A windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas firms will increase from 25% to 35% and be extended until March 2028
• New "temporary" 45% tax on companies that generate electricity will be applied from January

Economy and public finances:

• The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) judges the UK to be in recession, meaning the economy has slowed for two quarters in a row
• It predicts growth for this year overall of 4.2% but that the size of the economy will shrink by 1.4% in 2023
• The UK's inflation rate is predicted to be 9.1% this year and 7.4% next year
• Government will give itself five years to hit debt and spending targets, instead of the current three years

Other measures:

• Means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit, will rise in line with inflation (10.1%)
• State pensions will also rise by that same amount
• Rent rises in the social sector will be capped at 7% in the next financial year
• Lifetime cap on social care costs in England due in October 2023 delayed by two years
• Sizewell C nuclear plant to go ahead
• Northern Powerhouse rail and HS2 also to go ahead as planned

Government spending:

• Defence spending to be maintained at 2% of national income - a Nato target
• Overseas aid spending to be kept at 0.5% for next five years, below the official target of 0.7%
• NHS budget will increase in each of the next two years by an extra £3.3bn
• Schools will get an extra £2.3bn next year and the year after

Click here to read more on what all this might mean for you.

The financial markets made a muted reaction to the chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

The pound fell around half a cent against the dollar after Jeremy Hunt began speaking, to hit a low of $1.1802.

Government borrowing costs were largely unchanged.

This suggests that the chancellor’s job of reassuring investors is succeeding - so far at least.

Reeves continues: "The Conservatives have crashed our economy, given up on growth and sent inflation through the roof. As usual, it is ordinary working people who are paying the price."

"It is a familiar tune", Reeves says, paraphrasing the song Every Breath You Take by The Police: "Every mortgage they raise, every cut they make, every tax they hike - the Conservatives are costing you."

Reeves says the Tories have "no plan for the future of our country."

"The conclusion is that Britain can no longer afford a Tory government," Reeves says.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says "the country is sick of being ripped off by the Tories".

"Because of Tory failure, our crumbling public services are set to suffer even more, ordinary working people lose yet again, never before have people paid so much in tax, and yet got so little in return".

She asks how much longer the NHS waiting lists will get, and asks what the long-term effect will be of three in ten school leavers leaving school without a GCSE in maths or English.

Reeves says that the chancellor and prime minister have given up on growth, and that forecasts for growth in the UK economy have been downgraded by watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Reeves says we need "a serious long term plan" to grow the economy.

Reeves says the government "closed down gas storage, blocked onshore wind and solar and slashed support for home insulation."

She says that today's announcements to act on energy efficiency come far too late and that the government hasn't acted on isolation for home as recommended by Labour.

Reeves says: "Millions of families could've been helped and they haven't been... And still they block renewable power like onshore wind that could bring energy bills down, create jobs and lead the way in the industry of the future."

"Clean power is the right solution," she says.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says bill payers will see their energy bills rise again next spring.

"Far too many people" will be "wondering how they'll make ends meet".

Labour's Rachel Reeves goes on to talk about taxes on the profits of energy firms.

She says after months of resistance from the prime minister, the government "has finally been dragged kicking and screaming to extend the windfall tax that Labour had been calling for since January".

They have still left billions of pounds on the table, she adds, "profits that are the windfalls of war" and a loophole that the government has failed to close.

Reeves says that while the chancellor claims that his statement is fair, he has kept a plan to lift the cap on bankers' bonuses.

He is also not changing non-domicile tax rules that allow certain people to pay tax in the UK only on their income in this country.

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

I suspect we might hear a lot more of this new slogan outlined by Rachel Reeves - that the government is "pickpocketing" the public.

She argues that by freezing tax thresholds working people whose wages go up will be saving less of their incomes, as more goes towards tax.

But the government argues this is a way of increasing more tax revenue without actually raising the percentage of tax people pay.

As Labour face questions over what they'd do differently, she is keen to draw some political dividing lines between Labour and the Tories - asking why the government won't abolish non-dom tax status, or reverse plans to lift the cap on bankers' bonuses.

Reeves says the chancellor seems to have confirmed a "council tax bombshell" which will see a £100 rise for a typical Band D property, which will take its total to over £2000 for the first time.

"Local people... will be forced to pay more because of the destructions the Conservatives have wreaked on the economy."

"In the last hour, the Conservatives have picked the pockets of purses and wallets of the entire country, as the chancellor has deployed a raft of stealth taxes taking billions of pounds from working people," she says.

Double digit inflation and frozen tax bands are eroding billions away from people, she states.

These changes will take £600 from the average person, she states.