The lower rate should allow Britain to compete on more favourable terms against other top economies - it compares with 40% in the US, 33% in France and 29% in Germany.

The move would open up options for investors who are currently limited on which AIM stocks they can include, allowing them to hunt returns among small high growth firms.

Tory MPs had threatened to rebel against the government if George Osborne had gone ahead with his New Year tax hike on petrol and diesel.

The tax-free allowance for pensions will be cut from £1.5million to £1.25million over a lifetime and from £50,000 to £40,000 annually - raising an extra £1billion.

A 'triple lock' commitment was made in 2010, when the state pension rises were controversially switched from the retail prices index (RPI) to CPI, which has historically risen at a slower pace.

Small companies and stockbrokers welcomed the chance that shares quoted on the junior Alternative Investment Market may qualify for tax relief under the Individual Savings Account shelter.

Banks will be asked to hand over businesses’ credit card transactions in an effort to smoke out tax dodgers, George Osborne announced.

A Gas Generation Strategy published alongside the Autumn Statement confirmed the establishment of an Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility admitted it expects a £400million shortfall in the Government's coffers, after predicting the bank levy would raise £2.2billion in March's Budget.

The scheme will focus on s road improvements, housing and local infrastructure, regional growth and business, science, and schools and colleges.

George Osborne hoisted an 'Open for Business' sign over Britain with a multi-billion pound package to help firms fight back against the slump at home and the troubles in the eurozone.

The number in the 40 per cent tax band is expected to rise from 3.8million today by another 400,000 over the next three years, the Treasury said yesterday.

Annual rises for teachers will be scrapped and heads given almost complete freedom to dictate salary increases in the shake-up outlined in the Autumn Statement.

Adele Collinson, pictured, owns an arts and crafts busines and worries the new cap on tax-free pension contributions will hit her retirement plans.

George Osborne targeted workers at the top, middle and bottom of the financial heap in his Autumn statement yesterday with a raft of money-saving measures.

Pensions minister Steve Webb (pictured) warned the state of the public finances meant 'difficult decisions' had to be taken, and challenged Labour to back them.

Bassetlaw MP John Mann said the Shadow Chancellor’s response to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement had damaged Mr Balls’s leadership prospects – and made Mr Miliband’s position secure.

Where was the BBC’s Daily Politics presenter, Andrew Neil, on Budget Day? Apparently the Budget is viewed as a state occasion by the BBC. And thus the exclusive preserve of Edwards.

Knowing exactly what has unlocked Britain’s recovery is hard to determine. But the elements have been in place for some time.

Treasury sources said the Chancellor will have to ‘make a decision’ on what to do about business rate relief as it is due to expire next year.

The Chancellor told the Cabinet they must reduce spending every year for the next three years, as he prepared to set out a highly-political statement to the Commons.

Anyone currently in their 40s or younger would be affected by the move, which will see the state pension age rise as the average person lives longer.

The rate paid by ETF providers is currently 0.5 per cent but this will be ditched in April 2014, Chancellor George Osborne revealed in his Autumn Statement today.

NS&I has been given a higher financing target for the financial year Chancellor George Osborne revealed in the Autumn Statement today.

George Osborne did not address problems such as low levels of investment, lack of access to finance, and high energy costs.

George Osborne described the crackdown as the 'largest package of measures to tackle tax avoidance, tax evasion, fraud and error so far this parliament'.

The Chancellor unveiled a raft of upbeat data pointing to the recovery gaining momentum, with record numbers in work, borrowing falling and house prices forecast to soar by 5.2 per cent next year.

Many employers are hiring staff on contracts where they are classed as self employed, even if they are full-time employees.

Call for a freelancer limited company structure to be set up within the tax system and for training for a new career to be tax deductable.

Oil price decline provides a key backcloth to the budget. It will keep downward pressure on inflation, and offers the prospect that the decline in real earnings could start to be reversed.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has very little room for manouevre in today's Autumn Statement.

The Chancellor abolished air passenger duty on all flights for children under the age of 12. It will also reduce the cost of a holiday to Spain for a family of four by £26.

The Deputy Prime Minister spurned the chance to hear the Chancellor's statement in person and instead headed to Cornwall to announce funding for coastal defences.

Autumn Statement day is always a big one in the Commons year but yesterday the fervour was particularly felt as next May’s electoral reckoning looms, writes QUENTIN LETTS.

As analysts digested the detail of the Chancellor’s ‘mini-Budget’ the ramifications of reforms to stamp duty, business rates and the North Sea tax regime became clearer…

Geoff Parkes, teaching fellow at Aston Business School in Birmingham, said: ‘Thus far, the scheme has accounted for less than two per cent of all lending to small firms.’

IPSE, a body that represents the self-employed, believes the Chancellor could limit contracts to just a month for freelancers, after which they would be forced on to the client’s payroll.

The Chancellor has pledged to eliminate the record deficit racked up by Labour during the financial crisis and return the country to the black by the end of the decade.

Border systems will be upgraded to better target weapons being smuggled into the country while a joint operation centre will see police, intelligence agencies and the military to work more closely.

Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed the basic state pension will rise by £3.35 to £119.30 a week from April, while the starting rate for the new single-tier version will be £155.65.

Anyone with a household income of less than £80,000 in England will soon be able to buy a home through shared ownership, which has long been restricted to key workers.

UK Sport has been handed a shock 29 per cent increase in funding, handing a boost to British athletes preparing for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo four years later.

George Osborne says household energy bills will fall by an average of £30 by 2017 as a result of reducing green levies, as outlined in his Autumn Statement this afternoon.

Draconian rises signalled by the Chancellor will see the average bill for a Band D household rise up to £320 by 2020/21. George Osborne urged town halls to impose increase to fund social care shortfalls.

HMP Holloway in north London, which has been home to some of Britain's most infamous killers, will be sold off as part of a £1.3billion government overhaul of the UK prison service

Chancellor George Osborne landed buy-to-let and second homes a huge shock by announcing a stamp duty surcharge on property purchases from April.

George Osborne hit the buy-to-let dream with a big stamp duty hike yesterday, but landlords still have a tax trick they can pull to claim it back.

He has repeatedly slashed domestic spending, but the Chancellor remains committed to funnelling 0.7 per cent of Britain's GDP into an array of dubious overseas aid projects.

In his Autumn Statement and Spending Review, Mr Osborne claimed he is tackling the 'crisis in home ownership' head-on with the 'biggest housebuilding programme since the 1970s.'

Theresa May has told Chancellor Philip Hammond to make middle and low-income families in the UK a priority in next week’s Autumn Statement.