Budget 2017: A piece of history as Hammond delivers first and last Spring Budget

IT was Philip Hammond's rabbit out of the hat moment as he delivered the Autumn Statement in November.

Barely four months into the job, Mr Hammond confirmed his first Autumn Statement would be his last.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Chancellor was not resigning in the most spectacular fashion possible, but was announcing a significant change in the way the Government reports to the public on the state of the nation's finances and tax and spend measures.

Today's Budget will be the last to be delivered in the Spring as it moves to the autumn, meaning there will be two Budgets this year.

A Spring Statement will replace the Budget in 2018.

For all the ritual of Budget day with the red box and photos on the steps of 11 Downing St, this event has evolved over the years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Although for the majority of their history Budgets have been delivered in the Spring, they were moved to the autumn under then chancellor Ken Clarke in the 1990s.

Mr Clarke merged the Budget with the Autumn Statement, an innovation of the 1970s which had seen the Government making two major financial statements a year.

Gordon Brown's tenure in the Treasury saw the two events split, with the Autumn Statement restored and renamed the pre-Budget report while the Budget again took place in the Spring. The pre-Budget report became the Autumn Statement again under George Osborne.

Mr Hammond's innovation is more significant than changing the name and timing of these two events.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Under Messrs Brown and Osborne, the Autumn Statement (or pre-Budget report) became a mini-Budget in its own right containing tax and spending changes.

Mr Hammond has suggested concentrating major announcements in an autumn Budget will allow for business and others to be ready for when tax changes take effect in the following Spring and give confidence that major changes will only be made annually, rather than every six months.

He has promised the Spring Statement will only be a response to the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility, not a second annual dose of tinkering with the Government's finances.

In his own words: "I won’t make significant changes twice a year just for the sake of it."

Read more...

Hide Ad
Hide Ad