BBC News Channel

Shadow Treasury minister Rebecca Long-Bailey agrees on the need to reduce the deficit but says George Osborne is not doing it in a sustainable way. The cuts are going to harm economic growth, she argues. Asked about the Chancellor's house building announcement, she says she welcomes plans to build more homes, but warns that "the devil is in the detail".

BBC News Channel

Conservative MP Oliver Dowden says the government is determined to get spending under control and run a surplus by the end of the Parliament so it is better placed to deal with future crises. That's the "central thrust" of this Autumn Statement, he adds. He rejects Osborne is boxing himself in by setting a surplus date, saying it is necessary.

The BBC’s political editor on the issues George Osborne faces, including on tax credits.  

This year, George Osborne promised us, was to be the peak year for government borrowing as a percentage of GDP. So says BBC economics editor Robert Peston on the Autumn Statement and Spending Review special. 

But we will have to wait until April to discover whether this will be the case.

Much depends on the slowdown in the global economy - which is having a negative  impact on UK economic growth. 

We "can't rule out a crash" in the Chinese economy, Robert says.

Mr Osborne is assuming the slowdown in China will be "gradual and manageable". If it's not many of the Treasury's forecasts won't be worth much.

A helicopter tracks Chancellor George Osborne as he leaves his office in the Treasury for the Houses of Parliament.

Robin Brant
Political Correspondent

The prime minister's official car "momentarily touched" another car outside 10 Downing Street this morning in what the prime minister's official spokesman (PMOS) denied was a car crash.

Asked if the Jaguar had "crashed" on the day of the Spending Review the PMOS said "when the official car was moved it momentarily touched another car".

The prime minister was not in the vehicle at the time.

TV footage appears to show the car gently scrapping the bumper of another car.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says today is where the rhetoric of the Conservatives election promises "smashes up with reality". Their big aspiration is also their big difficulty: how to make a set of hard fought decisions look like they are a coherent programme that matches voters' priorities, she adds.

The Daily Politics

The BBC's special programme on the Autumn Statement and Spending Review is under way. You can watch it on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel - or by clicking on the 'Live Coverage' tab above. And we'll be bringing you the latest lines here, of course.

Presenter Andrew Neil is joined throughout by BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, BBC business editor Kamal Ahmed and outgoing BBC economics editor Robert Peston

Former Prime Minister and tax credits architect, Gordon Brown writes the Chancellor has created a "divided" country, external with more children in poverty.

He accuses the Conservative government of telling "dangerous" lies and says cuts to tax credits are "anti-work, anti-family, anti-children, anti-women, anti-youth and anti-fairness".

He says Mr Osborne's proposals "cannot be rescued by amending them: they have to be replaced".

George Osborne is pictured leaving the Treasury, ahead of his statement to Parliament. What has the chancellor got in store for the UK for the next four years? We'll find out, at 12:30 GMT. So stay with us.

The Times' Matthew Parris expects the Autumn Statement and Spending Review won't turn out "quite as dramatically" as Polly Toynbee suggests.

BBC News Channel

Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee says it's always been George Osborne's aim to cut the size of the state permanently. "We will be doing far less than has ever been in the sights of any previous government," she tells the BBC.

Image source, Getty Images

We brought you the news a little earlier (post 10:46) that former Conservative MP Tim Yeo has lost his libel case against The Sunday Times over a "cash for advocacy" claim.

Mr Yeo, South Suffolk MP from 1983 to 2014, claimed his reputation had been "trashed" by three articles in 2013.

The newspaper alleged he breached parliamentary codes of conduct by telling reporters he could promote business concerns in return for cash, the High Court heard.

It suggested Mr Yeo, 70, would approach ministers for a daily fee of £7,000.

Here's our story.

Robin Brant
Political Correspondent

The Conservatives won a mandate at the election to reduce welfare spending and today George Osborne will explain exactly how they'll do it.

But it almost certainly won't be what was unveiled in last summer's Budget - when tax credits were singled out for steep cuts.

The impact of those reductions will likely be softened - after significant pressure from the House of Lords.

But the chancellor still wants to save £12bn and has to take more from other departments. So where then will the cuts bite?

Swathes of government spending are protected - the NHS, schools in England, defence and international aid. So it's the Home Office, including the police, and business, including skills and apprenticeships, that can expect bigger reductions. 

Mr Osborne wants to be a builder, not just a cutter, so expect £6bn worth of news about 400,000 new affordable homes later. But the fact remains he is only half way through his mission to cut spending and tackle the UK's deficit.

BBC News Channel

Economist Vicky Price says she doesn't think George Osborne will be able to achieve his £10bn suprlus by 2020, and predicts he will reduce it to a "more realistic" level. She tells the BBC the economy is "slowing down", which will affect growth forecasts.

Political economy professor Richard Murphy says the chancellor has an "appalling" track record in forecasting. "If he repeats the errors he made in 2010" he'll end up with a £40bn deficit, he adds.

Image source, PA

David Cameron makes his way to the House of Commons to prepare for Prime Minister's Questions, which comes before the chancellor's Autumn Statement to MPs.