Osborne U-Turn On Tax Credits And Police Cuts

He said: “The Chancellor’s announcement does not change the fact that West Midlands Police has been hit harder than any other force in the country, that we have had cuts of £130million since 2010 and have had to make difficult choices as a result”.

Police chiefs have warned about their ability to respond to a Paris-style attack if they are hit by further deep cuts to frontline policing, but the Home Office, alongside ministries such as Local Government, Justice, Energy and Culture, is expected to face budget reductions of 20%-30%.

“Now is the time to back our police”, Mr Osborne said.

“Decent UK growth and a better outlook for tax receipts have saved the day – enabling Mr Osborne to cut less and shrink the deficit much as planned”. There will be real terms protection for police funding.

The Tory government faced massive protests from its own backbenchers over the plans to reduce tax credits for working families and was defeated last month in the House of Lords.

Scrapping them altogether will be welcomed by many Tory backbenchers who were uneasy with the plans.

This, he said, was because Osborne had been “lucky” with changes in forecasts for lower debt interest payments and higher tax revenues.

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, the shadow chancellor said: “I was trying to draw attention to the fact, with a bit of irony, that actually what George Osborne is doing is selling off British assets to the Chinese People’s Republic”.

The borrowing forecast for this year was cut from £74.1 billion to £73.5 billion, with the Government predicted to achieve a surplus of £10.1 billion in 2019/20 and £14.7 billion in 2020/21.

“The Government has furthered their commitment to regenerating the housing sector by announcing a doubling of the housing budget to over £2 billion a year, making it the biggest house building programme by any government since the 1970s”.

Speaking on Sky News Mr Osborne denied that he was gambling with the future of Britain’s economy and said: “The fundamental thing I am trying to do is save money rather than… spending the money or gambling the money”.

“However, even if we take this decision the levy will not give us the stretch to provide the services we need for a growing population, including care for the county’s increasing numbers of the elderly and frail”.

“He is still taking £1billion from working families next year and over £3billion by the end of the Parliament”.

NHS to deliver £22bn efficiency savings in England and Department of Health to cut 25 per cent from its Whitehall budget.

The Department for Transport will suffer a 37pc cut in its operational spending and the Department of Energy a 33pc cut.

Mr Osborne shrugged off suggestions that the Autumn Statement and Spending Review – in which he also announced he was protecting police budgets – amounted to a pitch for the job of Prime Minister.

“It would be churlish of me not to welcome this decision and I strongly welcome it. The public wants certainty over the number of police officers there are to keep their communities safe”.

More stamp duty for buy-to-let landlords and second home owners. Letters with grim news will no longer be landing on doormats before Christmas.