Autumn Statement 2013: Who said what?

05/12/13
News

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We thought we would round up opinion and reaction to the Autumn Statement. From the Chancellor himself to the leader of the opposition, business leaders to the trade unions, who said what?

We’d also love to hear what you think about the Autumn Statement, why not leave your comment at the end of this article?

 

g1 George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequor: Our economic policy is working, but the job is not done…. We will fix the roof whilst the sun is shining. If we give up on our plan now we will be saddled with a deficit that would be worst in Europe.
 David Cameron David Cameron, Prime Minister, via Twitter: @george_osborne showed our #LongTermPlan for the UK economy is working, “Great Britain is moving again – let’s keep going.
g2 Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor: Under this Government it’s not just the badgers who are moving the goalposts…surely we can do better than this. With this out-of-touch Chancellor and Prime Minister, hardworking people are worse off under the Tories.
Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor, via Twitter: Results of soundbite bingo : 22 plans, 6 long terms, 10 difficult decisions, 3 responsible recovery.
 Michael White Michael White, Guardian Assistant Editor, via Twitter: If so many past predictions were wrong, both too high and low, why should we take the latest batch seriously?
John Longworth, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce: Business will be pleased that the Chancellor has finally acted on business rates bills after years of relentless increases that sucked the life out of businesses in all parts of the UK. The measures announced to curb business rate increases are positive, but not strong enough to boost companies’ cash flow and investment. The Chancellor should have been bolder, freezing business rates entirely until this pernicious tax can be properly reformed.Upgraded growth forecasts, lower borrowing forecasts, and increased business confidence are all indications that the UK economy is moving in the right direction. However, restoring stability to the public finances remains crucial to businesses.The Chancellor must continue to restrain current spending, and prioritise resources on investment in infrastructure and on creating the most competitive environment for wealth creation and enterprise.
 Charles Beer Charles Beer, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal Tax and UK, Business & Property Experts: The changes to capital gains tax on property transactions by foreigners is a major change in UK tax policy…Despite being designed to cool an overheated central London market, it will affect just as many people in other areas, notably expatriates who have kept property in the UK either for letting or for their own use.
In fact it seems unlikely that the announcement will have much effect on the London market which is largely driven by factors other than tax. Given that the new tax will only fall on gains arising above values at April 2015, it will be a long time before there is any noticeable revenue effect.
 Chris Leslie Chris Leslie, Labour MP for Nottingham East and Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, via Twitter: Cameron’s cost-of-living bombshell has left working people on average £1600 a year worse off
g3 Ros Altmann, Pensions Expert, via Twitter: Have to overhaul our infrastructure – quite right! But why not use pension and insurance assets not rely on foreign investors….Good to hear insurance industry will fund £20bn of infrastructure, they have huge resources, so do pension funds. Win-win.
KPMG  KPMG Accountants, via Twitter: What do #HS2 and #fracking have in common? Government puts tomorrow’s prosperity before today’s popularity. Bold and welcome.
 John Allan John Allan, National chairman, Federation of Small Businesses: It represents steady progress, with measures to address their members’ concerns in the cost of doing business. Any tax cuts should be focused on encouraging firms to take on younger workers.
 Dave Prentis Dave Prentis, General Sectetary Unison: Raising the state pension age is cruel and unnecessary. It may be ok for the better off to work until they are 70 because they will have some years to enjoy their retirement. But for millions, they will never see their pension because they will die before that age.