Autumn Statement - live

With the government unveiling the new National Infrastructure Plan yesterday – and a package of reforms to the Green Deal and Energy Companies Obligation earlier in the week – there has already been much this week for the industry to chew on.

Will the chancellor have any more surprises in store today?

Certainly much of the focus will be on the improvement in the economy, with Osborne set to hail greatly improved growth forecasts.

Yet he is also expected to stress that more austerity and spending cuts remain lie ahead – and is unlikely to announce any new capital spending for construction.

However, for a primer for what the industry could expect from the chancellor, see our analysis here.

Meanwhile, see below for full coverage of the key announcements, as they are made … and follow @BuildingNews for live tweets.

Autumn Statement 2014 - key announcements for construction:

• Think tank the Resolution Foundation has published a useful guide to the macro-economic picture ahead of the Autumn Statement
• Osborne begins by saying Britain’s economic plan is working, but stresses that the job is not done - is seeking a “responsible recovery”: “We have held our nerve while those - who predicted there would be no growth until we turned the spending taps back on - have been proved comprehensively wrong”
• “Yes, the deficit is down. But it is still far too high and today we take more difficult decisions.Yes, the forecasts show that growth is up.But the same forecasts show growth in productivity is still too low and today we set out further economic reforms.”
• From OBR: The fall in GDP from peak to trough between 2008 and 2009 was not 6.3 per cent, as previously thought - but instead was an even more staggering 7.2 per cent.
  £112 billion wiped off our economy - around £3000 for every household in this country, and one of the sharpest falls in the national income of any economy in the world.
• Growth forcecasts: 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
• Funding for measures to boost overseas trade doubled to £50bn
• Borrowing: This year we will borrow £111 billion - £9 billion less than was feared in March. That falls next year to £96 billion, then down to £79 billion in 2015-16, £51 billion the year after, and £23 billion the year after that.
• Departmental spending: This year they are expected to underspend by £7 billion, a testament to good financial management.We can therefore be confident in reducing the contingency reserve by £1 billion this year and reducing departmental budgets by a similar amount in the next two years.This will save a further £3 billion in total.The protections for the NHS and schools will apply ….So non-ringfenced departments face an extra £1bn of cuts until 2015.
• Package of measures to tackle tax avoidance, tax evasion, fraud and error so far this Parliament - will raise over £9 billion over the next five years.
• On infrastructure - announces a commitment to invest in quantum technology; plus a new tax allowance to encourage investment in shale gas that halves tax rates on early profits - and a new physics centre at Edinburgh University named after Prof Pete Higgs
• Housing: — announces a billion pounds of loans to unblock large housing developments on sites in Manchester and Leeds and across the country … says government will increase the Housing Revenue Account borrowing limit by £300 million … says councils will sell off the most expensive social housing, so they can house many more families for the same money … says government will give working people in social housing a priority right to move if they need to for a job …
• Apprenticeships: …t here will now be an additional 20,000 higher apprenticeships over the next two years.
• Enterprise: …  announces a big expansion of Start Up Loans, through which a new generation of entrepreneurs is being created … 50,000 more people will be helped to fulfil their aspiration to start their own business … says government will extend the New Enterprise Allowance too.
• Capital gains tax: Britain is an open country that welcomes investment from all over the world, including investment in our residential property … But it’s not right that those who live in this country pay capital gains tax when they sell a home that is not their primary residence – while those who don’t live here do not … That is unfair … So from April 2015, we will introduce capital gains tax on future gains made by non residents who sell residential property here in the UK … I can also announce, from January 1st next year, the rate of the bank levy will rise to 0.156 per cent and its base will be broadened in ways we have consulted on … The levy will raise £2.7 billion in 2014-15 and £2.9 billion each year from 2015-16.
• Extends business rate relief for another year - plus announces rates relief for new retailers: To get the vacant shops that blight too many town centres to open again, I am introducing a new reoccupation relief that will halve the rates for new occupants…So I can announce today that for the next two years every retail premise in England with a rateable value of up to £50,000 will get a discount on their business rates… This discount will be worth £1000 off their bills.
• Cancels next year’s fuel duty rise …
• National insurance: Employer national insurance contributions will be removed altogether on a million and a half jobs for young people … The cost for a business of employing a young person on a salary of £12,000 will fall by over £500 … For someone on £16,000, that’s over £1,000 off …. The change requires legislation … It will come into force in April 2015, and it won’t apply beyond the upper earnings limit.

And that’s that …