AUTUMN STATEMENT SHOWS OSBORNE FAILING ON THE DEFICIT

George Osborne has been forced to announce that he will not meet his fiscal rule to get the debt down by 2015.

The Prime Minister’s pledge to balance the books by 2015 will also not be met until 2018.

Borrowing and debt figures have been revised up this year and for future years.

The government is set to borrow £212 billion more than they planned – once you take out the transfer of funding from the Bank of England – and more than the plans the government inherited and condemned at the time for not going far enough.

And the reason why borrowing and debt has been revised up is because slow growth and high unemployment means tax revenues are down and the benefits bill is up.

The only reason borrowing is forecast to fall this year is because the Government has added the 4G mobile spectrum auction to this year’s figures – even though government delays mean the auction hasn’t happened yet. Without the £3.5bn receipts penciled in from the 4G sale, borrowing would be forecast to be £2bn higher this year than last year.

AUTUMN STATEMENT SHOWS GOVT FAILING ON JOBS AND GROWTH

This Government is presiding over a shrinking economy this year with growth of -0.1%.

Growth forecasts have been downgraded yet again this year, next year and every year up to 2016.

Over the last two years our economy has grown by just 0.6% compared to the 4.6% the government promised, 3.6% in Germany and 4.1% in America.

Nearly 1 million young people are out of work, long-term unemployment is rising and the claimant count is forecast to be 275,000 a year higher in 2015

Prices are forecast to carry on rising faster than wages for another year until 2014.

It is clear that ordinary people are paying the price of his ideological austerity experiment that plainly isn’t working

LABOUR FORCES U-TURN ON FUEL DUTY

It is good news that George Osborne listened to Labour’s calls for January’s fuel duty rise to be scrapped – even though Conservative and Lib Dem MPs voted against this just a few weeks ago.

With our recovery so fragile and the cost of living rising, this would have been the wrong tax rise at the wrong time.

In government, Labour postponed or cancelled planned fuel duty rises on 13 occasions – including at the height of the global financial crisis.

George Osborne’s VAT rise has added around 3p to the price of a litre of petrol.

CHANCELLOR FALTERS ON ENERGY-EFFICIENT HOMES

George Osborne’s failure to support energy efficiency in the home is a missed opportunity to help boost growth, cut carbon emissions and reduce householders’ fuel bills, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

In response to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Brian Berry, the Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “The Chancellor should have taken the opportunity to support the Government’s own Green Deal energy-efficiency initiative by introducing more incentives, including a lower rate of VAT on housing repair, maintenance and improvement work to encourage homeowners to take advantage of the Green Deal . Local building companies are best placed for this type of work, but are reluctant to jump through the hoops involved without stronger market demand."

Berry said: "The £5billion for capital investment is good news and clearly shows the Government recognises the positive impact a growing construction sector has on the economy. However, the Chancellor should have done more beyond the measures to support 120,000 new homes already announced. That is just half the number of new homes needed each year to meet current demand.

“Industry forecasts show public housing activity is likely to fall further between now and the next election in 2015. If the Government cannot find additional funding for affordable housing it must redouble efforts to improve access to mortgages so the private housing market can help deliver a significant increase in the total number of new homes being built,” he added.

Berry continued: "Efforts by the Government to bring forward new sites for development quickly by releasing public-sector land and investing in infrastructure are welcome, but too often these measures don't benefit smaller house builders. The funding to unlock stalled sites needs to be readily available for use on smaller scale developments, so that the thousands of small and medium-sized firms can boost the industry's production capacity."

Berry concluded: "The Chancellor's Business Bank announcement is welcome, but it won’t be fully operational until 2014. Our latest research shows that lending to businesses needs to improve now. More than 40 per cent of construction SMEs have found it more expensive to access credit in the past two years, which has led to lost growth opportunities and cuts in employment and training. Construction businesses are also experiencing smaller workloads because their clients can't access finance. The Government must work hard to ensure the Business Bank gets finance flowing to firms of all sizes as soon as possible."

AUTUMN STATEMENT: MORE TOXIC MEDICINE?

The Tory-Lib Dem Government’s economic policies are not working:

They’re failing on jobs, growth and the deficit

Prices are rising faster than wages, our economy has flatlined for two years and long term unemployment is soaring. This is causing long-term damage to the economy. And because the benefits bill is up and tax revenues are down as a result of this economic failure, borrowing is rising so far this year – meaning the government is failing on the one test they set themselves. Raising taxes and cutting spending too far and too fast has backfired.

They don’t have a long-term plan for our economy

Banking reforms are being watered down, they’ve failed to deliver on infrastructure investment to strengthen our economy for the future and business is rapidly losing confidence in the government’s ability to make long-term decisions.

And they’re standing up for the wrong people

The price of this government’s economic failure is being paid for by people on middle and low incomes who are being asked to pay more, while millionaires get a tax cut – worth an average of £107,000 for 8,000 people earning over £1 million.

We need a One Nation approach to the economy: an economy that grows, where everybody has a stake and where the rewards are fairly shared.

So these are the tests for today’s autumn statement:

We need a plan to create jobs and growth, which are vital to get the deficit down and catch up all the lost ground of the last two years. Labour's five point plan includes using the funds from the 4G auction to build 100,000 affordable homes, bringing forward infrastructure investment, a temporary VAT cut and a bank bonus tax to fund a jobs guarantee for young people.

We need long-term reforms to strengthen our economy and ensure that other countries do not continue to race ahead of us. This should include a British Investment Bank properly backed by the Treasury to boost lending to small and medium sized businesses, a long term plan to rebuild our infrastructure and radical reforms to separate retail and investment banking.

We need fair action to help people on low and middle incomes with the rising cost of living. That means cancelling the fuel duty rise in January, at least until next April. And it means rethinking the plan to give a tax cut to millionaires on the same day that taxes go up for millions of pensioners.

In the Autumn Statement we need to see a change of course from George Osborne, not more of the same.

If he fails to do so then it will be even clearer that only One Nation Labour can deliver the change Britain needs to make our economy fairer and stronger, get the deficit down and ensure people are better off.

FIREFIGHTERS WARN – EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO FLOODING THREATENED BY CUTBACKS

The Fire Brigades Union has warned that relentless cuts to frontline 999 services threaten to hamper firefighters’ ability to respond to floods and other emergencies.

I share their concerns because the savage spending cuts imposed on fire and rescue services by central government is leading to fewer fire stations, fewer fire engines and fewer firefighters. The cuts are leaving local emergency crews ill-equipped to deal with floods, fires and other emergencies. The national media reported earlier this week that firefighters were so stretched in some areas that motorist stranded by rising floodwaters could not be rescued.

And yet the minster responsible for the fire and rescue seems oblivious to the problem. In fact when I challenged him about the impact of the cuts he dismissed my strictures claiming there had only been a 0.5% reduction in funding for fire and rescue services.

The FBU’s general secretary, Matt Wrack, has written to David Cameron, outlining the union’s concerns and calling for urgent action. I sincerely hope he is successful because the government is planning even bigger cuts in the next two years. This has led some fire chiefs to say they will not be able to fulfill their statutory responsibilities, let alone do anything else.

Given that water rescue is not a statutory duty, I shudder to think what will happen if there is more severe flooding next year.

LABOUR CALLS ON CAMERON AND OSBORNE TO STOP THE NEW YEAR FUEL DUTY RISE

Earlier this week Labour MPs called on George Osborne to cancel the Government’s New Year 3p per litre petrol tax rise that will hit local people hard when it comes into force on 1 January.

At a time when the cost of living is rising, our recovery is fragile and this out of touch Government is giving 8,000 millionaires an average tax cut of over £107,000, it cannot be right to hit middle and low income families and small businesses with another tax rise.

The price of petrol has gone up 13p since the Tories came to power. People in Derby are really feeling the squeeze from the Government’s VAT rise – which has added 3p to the price of a litre of petrol – and deep cuts to things like tax credits.

So delaying January's fuel duty rise, at least until April, would provide some much-needed financial relief.

It’s disappointing that Tory and Lib Dem MPs voted in the House of Commons against our plan to stop the New Year fuel duty hike. But I will keep urging the Government to change their minds and not hit local families and businesses so hard at this very difficult time for our economy.