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The Archbishop of Canterbury has made his views known about the chancellor's announcement to cut overseas aid down from 0.7% of national income to 0.5%.

Taking to Twitter, Justin Welby said: "The cut in the aid budget - made worse by no set date for restoration - is shameful and wrong.

"It’s contrary to numerous government promises and its manifesto."

He says he urges MPs to "reject it for the good of the poorest, and the UK’s own reputation and interest".

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Back to the Commons - for the Liberal Democrats, the party's Treasury spokeswoman Christine Jardine accuses the chancellor of not doing enough to protect jobs.

The furlough scheme - which has been extended until the end of March - should go on into the summer, she says.

She says 3m people will be excluded from the financial support package promised by the government, accusing him of having "turned his back on them".

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Unison general secretary Dave Prentis says the announcements made by the chancellor today are "austerity - plain and simple".

He criticises the public sector pay freeze - which excludes doctors and nurses - saying: "Going after the pay of millions will be a bitter pill for key workers getting the UK through the pandemic and out the other side.

“Extra money in pockets gets spent locally. Less than a pound more a week for some won’t save the thousands of ailing shops and leisure, arts and hospitality venues across the country."

Mr Prentis says reviving the UK economy "will take a gargantuan effort from everyone".

He adds: "That means investing in the entire economy, not seeking to divide and rule between the sectors. Key workers mustn’t be taken for granted and left to carry the Covid can.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility says support for public services, households and businesses costs £280bn this year, pushing the deficit to £394bn, or 19% of national output, the highest ratio since 1944.

It puts and debt above 100% of output, or gross domestic product (GDP), for the first time since 1960.

"Our central forecast shows £20-30bn in spending cuts or tax rises would be required to balance revenues and day-to-day spending and stop debt from rising by the end of this Parliament," it said.

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The SNP's Treasury spokeswoman Alison Thewliss says the planned cut to overseas aid during the pandemic is "just cruel".

She accuses the chancellor of "failing to address the reality" of low-paid, insecure work - which have been "clobbered by Covid".

Instead of rising to £8.91 per hour, she says the minimum wage should go up to £9.50, as recommended by the National Living Wage Foundation.

She also criticises the public sector wage freeze, which she says will lower living standards at the "worst possible time".

Like Labour's Anneliese Dodds, she also calls for the temporary uplift in universal credit to be extended beyond April.

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Back in the Commons, Tory MP and chair of the Treasury Committee, Mel Stride is next to respond to the chancellor's spending review announcements.

He says he welcomes many of the "positive measures" but "inevitably" there are negatives, such as the public sector pay freeze and the cut to Foreign Aid.

He says the UK should look to private sector for growth and asks how businesses will be given "every support and freedom to power forward our economy" in the years ahead.

Mr Sunak says the UK will "build the economy through the dynamism" of the private sector.

And he promises to make it "as easy as possible to take on new people" - especially with the unemployment figures expected.

The planned new National Infrastructure Bank is a good move, but its jobs shouldn't be limited to picking up the slack left by the European Investment Bank, according to Michael Watson, head of the global Finance and Projects Group at law firm Pinsent Masons

"The financing and funding of new technology at scale needs to be its number one priority to kick-start the UK economy and take proactive steps towards net zero goals," he said.

The bank could at least, in part, effectively act as a large scale venture capital fund - at a pivotal time when the infrastructure and energy sectors are at an inflexion point and intervention is needed to accelerate change and galvanize new technologies."

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Many Tory MPs will be very unhappy about cut to overseas aid which goes back on a manifesto promise.

The chancellor justified it by explaining the UK is in an economic emergency, the UK's contributions will still be far more generous than most other countries and the cut will be temporary.

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Reacting to the news that foreign aid will be cut to 0.5% of national income, Neil Heslop, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), said the move imperils Britain's global standing.

"The UK’s leadership in international aid, enshrined in law, promotes our global influence around the world. It acts to strengthen countries in which we do business and ensures that the Global Britain of the future is a leading voice on the world stage," he said.

"Reducing our financial contribution as the pandemic ravages the globe risks undermining belief in the UK Government’s commitment, not only to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the climate crisis, but to the world’s most vulnerable people at their moment of greatest need."

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Responding to the chancellor is not an easy task for Labour.

Rishi Sunak has just said he’s borrowing almost £400bn and it’s hard to say that’s stingy. Instead, Anneliese Dodds is focusing on value for money and competence.

And Labour will remind people of some other challenges ahead for business - tighter restrictions likely to continue for large sections of the hospitality industry and Brexit transition period ending in a few weeks.

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Anneliese Dodds criticises the planned cut in overseas aid spending from the current 0.7% of GDP to 0.5%.

The chancellor, she says, has "turned his back on the world's poorest".

She also adds that it is in "Britain's economic interest" to support economies around the world.

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The shadow chancellor says they have "heard nothing" about further economic support for firms in the new tier system for England.

She also calls for temporary increases to universal credit announced this year to continue beyond next April.

She says the UK has "had the worst decade for pay growth for eight generations".

Cuts to councils, she says, have seen 240,000 jobs cut over the last ten years.

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Anneliese Dodds says Labour had called for £30bn of capital spending to be brought forward to fund green jobs.

She says the government's plans will create "half" the number of jobs that Labour's plan will create.

She says it appears "only a fraction" of the funding from the chancellor's Restart programme will begin next year.

She says though she welcomes the announcement of a new UK investment bank - and calls for the chancellor to "boost its firepower".

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Labour's shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds goes on to list a number of reports around contracts, especially PPE that did not work.

"This waste and mismanagement is part of a longer term pattern, showing claims today of levelling up don't match," she said.

The shadow chancellor says hospitals have been left unbuilt, "not a single starter home has been built" and the Northern Powerhouse Rail project has still not been approved six years after being announced.

"Photocalls aren't enough," she says. "We need delivery.

And we need a government that takes its responsibility to all four nations seriously."

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Many of the difficult decisions on tax rises will come later but the chancellor's first controversial move is freezing pay for many public sector workers.

But those in the NHS and the lowest paid WILL get a rise.

Politically it would have been impossible to clap in appreciation for health workers in the spring and freeze their pay a year later.

Labour's shadow chancellor, Annelise Dodds, is giving her response to the chancellor's speech.

She says it was a "moment for the chancellor to take the responsible choice the country needs", such as protecting key workers.

But she says after clapping them during the pandemic, he has "taken a sledgehammer to consumer confidence" by freezing many of their wages.

Ms Dodds saying they are "now being forced to tighten their belts" while there has been a "bonanza for those who have won contracts with political connections".

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On the stock market, shares are down in London, but have been since this morning.

The FTSE 100, which is packed with multinational companies with big operations abroad, is down 0.55% to 6,396.49.

The FTSE 250, which has more UK-focused companies in it, is down 0.83% to 19,624.65, although it has ticked up a little as Mr Sunak has been speaking.

BBC Politics

Chancellor has just finished his statement. Rishi Sunak said the economic emergency "has only just begun" for the UK.

Here are three key points from his speech:

• The government has spent £280bn this year to fight coronavirus and will spend a further £55bn to support public services next year.
• Unemployment is predicted to rise to a peak of 7.5% - or 2.6 million people - in the second quarter of 2021. It is forecast to fall in every coming year, hitting 4.4% by the end of 2024.
• Public sector pay rises will be paused next year - except for those earning less than £24,000 who will get a pay rise of at least £250. NHS staff will also be exempt.

Closing his speech, the chancellor says the "true measure of our success" of the spending announced today will see "the individual, the family, and the community" become stronger.

"The spending announced today is secondary to the courage, wisdom, kindness and creativity it unleashes," he adds.

"These are the incalculable but essential parts of our future, and they cannot be mandated or distributed by government."

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The chancellor says "numbers alone can ring hollow" and they are not enough.

"When asked what our vision for the future of this country is, we cannot point to a shopping list of announcements and feel the job is done," he adds.

Instead, he points to other things the government has introduced, such as a new immigration system, and investment in news homes, as well as a overhaul of a planning system.