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Autumn Statement 2016 live: Philip Hammond slashes growth forecast due to Brexit

Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of today's Prime Minister's Questions and the first budget statement since Britain voted to leave the European Union

London

Wednesday 23 November 2016 10:13 GMT

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Government to abolish Autumn Statement

Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of PMQ’s and the first Autumn statement from Chancellor Philip Hammond.

Here are the latest updates:

Chancellor confirms £122bn black hole in finances after Brexit vote
And uncertainty will cause growth to fall next year
'National Living Wage' to increase
Announces £2.3bn fund for infrastructure for up to 100,000 new homes
Says Autumn Statement will be replaced by a Spring Statement
Landlords and letting agents react with rage at ban on fees
Hammond announces crackdown on letting fees
Jo Cox's murder 'an attack on democracy' says Labour
How is the Autumn statement different to the budget?
Corbyn drops plans for shadow Cabinet elections
May backs independence of judges ahead of Supreme Court judgement
May meets with British ambassador after Trump remarks

Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, followed by Philip Hammond’s first budget statement in the Commons – and the first since Brexit.

George Osborne, the former Chancellor, has already expressed his “very best wishes” to his friend Mr Hammond as he helps “the UK prepare for he challenges ahead”. It is the first time in six years Mr Osborne will not be at the dispatch box providing an update on the country’s finances.

Theresa May promised in her debut speech as Prime Minister outside Downing Street to lead a Government for the "just about managing", a group now known as the Jams.

Brexit Concerns

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1/26Brexit Concerns

Brexit Concerns

Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs

Brexit will put British patients at the “back of the queue” for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned – forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA – because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice.

Getty Images

Brexit Concerns

London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks

One of Germany’s top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as “gateway to Europe” for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the Bundesbank—Germany’s central bank—told a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were “equivalent” between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still “miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market”, the BBC reports.

Jason Hawkes

Brexit Concerns

Exodus

The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union

Shutterstock

Brexit Concerns

Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer

Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEO’s performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterling’s fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors.

Rex

Brexit Concerns

Theresa May: UK to leave single market

Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all".

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Brexit Concerns

Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court

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Brexit Concerns

Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit

PA wire

Brexit Concerns

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit

PA wire

Brexit Concerns

Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais

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Brexit Concerns

Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp

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Brexit Concerns

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today

EPA

Brexit Concerns

Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain

Reuters

Brexit Concerns

Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry

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Brexit Concerns

Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote

PA

Brexit Concerns

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging

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Brexit Concerns

Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities

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Brexit Concerns

A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses

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Brexit Concerns

Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes

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Brexit Concerns

A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU

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Brexit Concerns

Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum

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Brexit Concerns

Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU

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Brexit Concerns

NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit

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Brexit Concerns

The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future

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Brexit Concerns

A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain

Reuters

Brexit Concerns

The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions

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Brexit Concerns

The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market

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In the Commons today, Mr Hammond will seek to build on that promise, unveiling measures “designed to improve the living standards of ordinary working-class people and their families”.

He is expected to use the statement in a bid to frame the Conservative Party as a friend to “ordinary working-class people” by easing the pain of his predecessor’s welfare cuts and abolishing letting-agent fees for “generation rent”.

Mr Hammond will also promise a £1.4bn cash-injection for 40,000 “affordable homes”.

But Brexit – and its effect on the British economy – is likely to be the big the story of the day.

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment, released alongside the Chancellor’s statement, is expected to show slower growth and rising prices, with some early reports suggesting Brexit uncertainty has blown a £100bn hole in the Treasury’s coffers.

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