Osborne To Admit Missing Borrowing Target

Around a billion pounds of investment for small and medium sized businesses, relief on petrol prices and changes to business rates to help the High Street are among measures to be announced later in the Autumn Statement.

Plans to make stamp duty more progressive, easing the bill for people buying at the bottom end of the market but with possible heavier charges on more expensive homes, could also be unveiled by George Osborne later in what has been described as the "Government's last big economic event".

Mr Osborne has left the Treasury ahead of his speech to the House of Commons at 12.30pm, immediately after Prime Minister's Questions.

The Chancellor will say: "Our long-term economic plan is working. I say: we stay the course. We stay the course to prosperity.

"We support people who want to work hard and get on. And it is for their sakes that we resolve to stay on course to prosperity."

But Labour will accuse him of breaking his promises on the economy, claiming his missed pledge to balance the books and policies favouring the rich have left working people £1,600-a-year worse off under the Coalition.

Prime Minister David Cameron wrote on Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) : "In today's Autumn Statement, George Osborne will show our long-term economic plan is working and why we must stay the course to prosperity."

The Treasury and the Bank of England have agreed to extend the Funding For Lending (FLS) scheme by another year to January 2016 - underwriting loans specifically for smaller firms.

Mr Osborne is also allocating an extra £400m to expand the state-owned British Business Bank's venture capital programme.

And it will be handed funding to guarantee up to £500m of new lending in 2015-16.

The Chancellor is also expected to scrap the Fair Fuel Stabiliser, which would have seen petrol prices increase by 1p next March.

Air Passenger Duty on children's flights is also due to be abolished, which could reduce the cost of long haul flights by hundreds of pounds for families.

And there could be help for the High Street, with a review of business rates and how it is calculated due to be completed by early 2016. Rising rates have in part been blamed for hitting traditional town centre shops.

The Chancellor is expected to have to acknowledge that net borrowing will miss targets and reach about £90bn – greater than the £86.5bn predicted in March during the budget.

Lower tax revenues as a result of an increase in low paid jobs and continued high social security bills will only increase pressure on future budgets, meaning possible further cuts or tax increases.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls, speaking ahead of the Autumn Statement, accused the Conservative party of shaping the wrong sort of economic recovery.

He said: "David Cameron and George Osborne have now failed every test and broken every promise they made on the economy.

"They promised living standards would rise, but while millionaires have got a huge tax cut, working people are £1,600 a year worse off under the Tories.

"This cost-of-living crisis is why the Chancellor will have to admit he has broken his promise to balance the books by next year."