Philip Hammond said UK output would grow faster than in most EU countries, creating half a million jobs. He vowed to spend billions to boost productivity, build homes and improve transport.

As Hammond speeches go, the Autumn Statement was short and reasonably un-glum. He kept it to 45 minutes. By his own morose standards he was almost skittishly optimistic in places.

Philip Hammond said Britain’s ‘productivity gap’ was ‘well known, but shocking nonetheless’. He told the House of Commons that the UK ‘lags behind’ the US and Germany by 30 per cent.

Hammond has backed recent HMRC proposals for a crackdown on using the loophole for smartphone and gym contracts, buying cars and TVs, or private medical insurance.

The OBR forecast a £122billion rise in UK debt, with £58.7billion blamed on Brexit. That came as it said the UK would not fall into a recession, but growth would be lower.

The Chancellor said the government was treating the estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as a 'signal' of what might happen.

Five million higher earners will be hit by a £200 'stealth tax on Middle England' because of changes to National Insurance Contributions buried in Treasury documents.

It was not the kind of Autumn Statement we had come to expect under George Osborne – all fire and brimstone – but Philip Hammond’s debut was not without its nasty side.

Former health secretary Stephen Dorrell, who is now chairman of the NHS Confederation, said Philip Hammond (shown) had made a ‘mistake’ by failing to find extra funds in last week’s autumn statement.

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