Chancellor Commits To Pensions 'Triple Lock'

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has begun announcing the Autumn Statement in the House of Commons. Link to livestream here. Hunt: "In today’s Autumn Statement for Growth our choice is not big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth, not more. Instead we reduce debt, cut taxes and reward work."

• Hunt in measures labelled as supporting those dealing with cost of living pressures, Hunt confirms that the Universal Credit benefit will increase by 6.7% from Apr '24, based on Sep inflation figure. Also confirms alcohol duties frozen across beer, cider, wine and spirits.
• Hunt confirms that the state pension triple lock (rising by 2.5%, wage rises, or inflation, whichever is higher) will remain in place as is: "There have been reports that we would uprate it by a lower amount to smooth out the effect of high public sector bonuses in July, but that would have been particularly difficult for one million pensioners whose only income is from the state. From April 2024, we will increase the full new state pension by 8.5% to £221.20 a week, worth up to £900 more a year.
• Hunt: "we will meet our NATO commitment to spend 2% of our GDP on defence, critical at a time of global threats to the international order most notably from Putin’s evil war in Ukraine."