Autumn Statement likely to shun 'headline-grabbing gimmicks'

According to reports in the Financial Times, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond (pictured) will put cheaper housing at the heart of "a sombre and short Commons speech" focusing on "fiscal discipline and preparing for Brexit". The paper added, however, that his attempts to help the UK's ‘Jams' - those May highlighted as "just about managing" when she took office in the summer - will be "tightly constrained by a £100bn deterioration in the public finances and fears of a Brexit shock". The FT expects to see the Chancellor "grappling with what he calls ‘eye-watering' debt levels a...