Half this amount - £5,760 - can be placed into a tax-free cash Isa by savers. The full Isa limit can only be invested in a stocks and shares Isa.

The FTSE 100 held onto modest gains after the Chancellor admitted the economy would slightly contract in 2012.

The funds will be used largely to upgrade and maintain existing roads to help tackle congestion and reduce bottle necks.

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.

Today’s Autumn Statement has brought the anticipated bad news for travellers, with the Chancellor unveiling the expected rise in the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD).

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.

The Chancellor provoked a backlash after saying that headteachers should be able to pay teachers more if they perform better in the job than colleagues.

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.

The Chancellor was forced to admit in the Commons that the economy will SHRINK by 0.1 per cent this year, forcing him to announced the Office for Budget Responsibility has predicted the economy will shrink this year by 0.1 per cent, down from the 0.8 per cent growth forecast just nine months ago.

Chancellors can never resist the opportunity to fiddle with pension rules. George Osborne has joined the club, pushed by the determination of the LibDems to be nasty to rich people.

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 yesterday announced he was cutting the tax-free amount an individual can put into their pension each year from £50,000 to £40,000.

Motorists celebrated after months of lobbying by campaigners as George Osborne told MPs he was axing the planned January rise.

Labour frontbenchers mocked Nick Clegg, pictured, and his Lib Dem colleagues as George Osborne dashed their hopes of introducing a 'mansion tax' in his Autumn Statement.

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.

The Treasury watchdog was forced on Wednesday to defend its reputation after it again downgraded its forecasts for the British economy and the public finances.

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.

The changes will come into force in 2014/15 and are expected to bring thousands more well-off savers into tax on their pension contributions, generating an extra £1 billion in tax by 2016/17.

We round up the main announcements in the Chancellor's speech and explore the devil in the detail to see how tax and spending changes affect you.

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

Osborne claims the UK is open for business but beyond the hyperbole his budget statement has closed the door on chances to stimulate growth, says one entrepreneur.

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.

The 'mummy tax' accusations came after it emerged the Chancellor will impose a real terms cut on statutory maternity pay.

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.

The 'mummy tax' accusations came after it emerged the Chancellor will impose a real terms cut on statutory maternity pay.

The Shadow Chancellor - who dressed as Santa for the Westminster Kids Club Christmas party - was jeered in the Commons after declaring that the deficit was coming down before changing his mind.

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.

To reclaim the high ground, Mail City Editor Alex Brummer suggests the speech Osborne needs to make from his dispatch box.

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.

As George Osborne speaks and throughout the day This is Money will be live blogging analysis, reaction, charts and data and what people are saying on social media.

Osborne has given the first cheerful update in his time as Chancellor, as he raised growth forecasts and cut borrowing predictions today. We round up City reaction.

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.

Hard-pressed motorists have been told that a planned 2p a litre fuel duty rise will not happen next September in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement today.

In today’s Autumn Statement, the Government said it would conduct a review to be completed by the end of 2014 to ensure that Britain can help develop and test driverless cars.

Experts had claimed that the lifetime limit could be capped at £100,000 – a figure that seasoned savers may have already reached - but that has not transpired.

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.