020 7898 0500Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered the Autumn Budget yesterday and showed an urge to increase spending at a level not seen for some time. The Office for Budget Responsibility published new forecasts which point to the UK running a deficit of £19.8 billion in 2023-24; last year, the Tories committed to balancing the budget by the middle of the next decade, which looks to be at odds with yesterday’s speech.
The tax-free personal allowance for basic rate and higher rate will increase from April 2019, which will no doubt be welcomed, but it is difficult to know how to take any of the news announced in truth. Until the UK has left the European Union and we are more aware of the situation, we are missing vital context. In many ways, the chancellor is too, which best explains why yesterday he conceded that his budget his predicated on the assumption there will be a Brexit deal.
Mortgage approvals fell to 65,269 in September which was a drop from 66,101 the previous month, but better than the 64,750 expected. Consumer credit increased by £785 million to £215.2 billion which was below expectations of a £1.2 billion gain.
The only release of note today is the Confederation of British Industry distributive trades. The figure is expected to fall to 20 in October from 23 the previous month. Tomorrow we will see the consumer confidence report for the same month which is also expected to slide a little further from September.
