George Osborne Delivers His Autumn Statement

George Osborne tells MPs "Britain's economic plan is working but the job is not done" as he opens his Autumn Statement.

Mr Osborne says that: "We need a government that lives to its means within the world".

The Chancellor says that the deficit is down but more must be done and he says that unemployment is down but young people are not trained to do jobs.

He warned of "more difficult decisions" but pledged: "The hard work of the British people is paying off and we will not squander their efforts."

But he delivered good news for the economy, saying Britain is now growing faster than any other major economy.

He said: "At the time of the Budget in March, the OBR forecast that growth this year would be 0.6 per cent.

"Today, they more than double that forecast – and estimate growth will be 1.4 per cent.

"Next year, instead of growth of 1.8 per cent, they are now forecasting 2.4 per cent.

"With faster growth now, it means they've revised the following four years to 2.2 per cent, 2.6 per cent 2.7 per cent and 2.7 per cent."

Some choose whisky, some gin, Mr Osborne opts for tea

But he said that the Office for National Statistics has reassessed the depth of the great recession between 2008 and 2009 and £112bn had been wiped off our economy "around £3,000 for every household in this country".

Mr Osborne continued to press home that the economic plan was working saying that rather than the mass redundancies forecast, "businesses had already created three jobs for every one lost in the public sector".

He said there were a record number of people in work and that unemployment was lower than when the coalition came to power.

In last year's Autumn Statement Mr Osborne had forecast an increase in the country's borrowing, however, borrowing is down, he said. The country is now borrowing £2,500 less for every household.

And he said that the country's debt was £18bn lower than forecast in March.

Mr Osborne and chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander

But preparing the public for continued austerity he said: "We will not squander the hard-earned gains of the British people."

Announcing that welfare spending would be capped he said: "Welfare budgets were completely out of control when we came to office and the number of households where no-one had ever worked nearly doubled.

We have taken very difficult decisions to bring benefit bills down – and saved £19 billion a year for the taxpayer.

We need to maintain that discipline."

However, he said that the NHS would be protected from spending cuts.

On pensions Mr Osborne announced a rise of £2.95 a week next year and he confirmed the trailed extension to the pension age, which means people will have to work until 68 before receiving their state pension by the mid 2030s.

He also confirmed that foreign property investors would be subject to a new capital gains tax, a move largely considered to be aimed at preventing a housing bubble in the south east and London.

Mr Osborne poured great praise on Education Secretary Michael Gove, before announcing Nick Clegg's much-championed free school meals for those up to the age of seven. 

But he said more must be done for those leaving school saying there would be funding for Jobcentres to support 16 and 17-year-olds trying to find an apprenticeship.

He also said that job seekers aged 18 to 21 without basic maths or English to be required to undertake training in these skills or lose benefits.

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