What does the Autumn Statement mean for Wales?
We've rounded up reactions from across Wales to Jeremy Hunt's Budget
The Chancellor's announced a cut in National Insurance contributions by two percentage points for millions of workers.
Jeremy Hunt says it'll mean people on the average wage will save more than 450-pounds.
He's also announced rises in Universal Credit and pensions.
Wales Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said: “Our budget in 2024-25 is now £3bn lower in than it would have been if it had grown in line with the with the economy since 2010.
“The Chancellor has failed to recognise the increasing pressures on public services both here in Wales and across the UK, which means there will be more incredibly difficult decisions ahead.
“The NHS and local authorities are facing acute challenges around social care, education, and homelessness. The continuing pressures on their budgets will have a significant impact on the future sustainability of our schools, hospitals and other vital public services.
“The cut in National Insurance will go unnoticed by most taxpayers as income tax thresholds remain frozen, dragging thousands of people into paying more tax – a stealth tax rise. Meanwhile, the UK Government is presiding over a disaster for public services, as the NI cut drains billions away from the NHS, schools, and social care.
“We will be carefully analysing the detail of today’s announcements as we continue to prepare for our draft Budget. Today’s Autumn Statement will make a difficult process even harder, as it does nothing to ease the immense pressure on our budget and on public services in Wales.”
The WLGA has expressed disappointment at the UK Government’s Autumn Statement.
It says councils continue to face a £411m budget shortfall next year for local services which could have devastating impacts on communities.
Cllr Andrew Morgan OBE, leader of the WLGA, said: “We welcome the cut in National Insurance and the uplift in the Real Living Wage announced by the Chancellor today.
"We’re also grateful to the UK Government for heeding our call for restoring the LHA allowance to the 30th percentile.
"However, this disappointing Autumn Statement had very little in the way of support for Welsh councils, or to address the £411m budget black hole faced by councils next year alone.
"Left unfunded, services could be decimated. In such a situation, we would have major concerns for the delivery of essential services and for our brilliant workforce across Wales that carry out vital roles in our communities.
“Local services are on their knees due to rocketing inflation and costs, and soaring demand.
"Amidst an ongoing cost of living crisis, worsened by rising utility costs, our hard-hit communities need their local services – such as social care, schools, and housing – more than ever before. Support is needed urgently to halt the potential devastating effects for lives and livelihoods.”
Welsh Conservative Leader, Andrew RT Davies MS said: “This was an empowering statement by the Chancellor.
“No government should leave people to waste their lives, they should enable them to get into work to support themselves and their families. That’s why this statement empowers businesses to invest and create jobs. Empowers people across Wales by allowing them to keep more of their own money by cutting taxes.
“Getting people back into to work, encouraging business to investment and cutting taxes for everyone is the recipe for a strong economy and only one that a UK Conservative Government under Rishi Sunak can deliver.”
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have slated the Autumn statement, saying it does “nothing for Wales”.
Senedd member Jane Dodds said: “Today has seen more stale nonsense from a Conservative government out of touch and out of ideas.
"Rishi Sunak must be living on a different planet if he thinks this will ease the pain for hardworking families after years of cruel tax hikes from his government.
"The Tories have once again shown themselves to be completely out of touch and are once again failing Wales.
"We desperately need a general election now to vote out a government that is unfit for power and has no real mandate to back them."
Ian Price, CBI Wales Director, said: “With tough decisions to be made, the Chancellor was right to prioritise ‘game-changing’ interventions that will fire the economy.
“While the move on National Insurance will give hard-pressed households some much needed breathing room, making full capital expensing a permanent feature of the tax system can be transformational for accelerating growth and improving living standards in the long-term.
“Helping firms to unleash pent-up investment is critical to getting momentum into the economy. Making full expensing permanent will give firms the stability they need to press on with decisions on investment whilst keeping the UK at the top table internationally for investment incentives.
“Moves to speed up planning and grid connectivity should also bolster business confidence to invest in high growth areas like green technologies, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.”
Melanie Simmonds, head of Save the Children Cymru said: “The Chancellor’s decision to increase benefits in line with September’s level of inflation should never have been in doubt.
"Parents need security in order to raise their children, and the uncertainty around this has placed enormous stress on families.
"The UK government must end this annual game playing with household budgets of struggling families.
“We welcome the Chancellor ending the three-year housing benefit freeze.
"Right now, record numbers of children are in temporary accommodation, and this announcement will go some way to ensuring children have safe, secure homes to grow up in.
"We have on message for the Chancellor on his Back to Work Plan: sanctions don’t work, and only push children and families into further hardship.”
The Farmers’ Union of Wales has given a lukewarm response to the Autumn Budget.
FUW Group Chief Executive Guto Bebb said: “Whilst we fully understand the need to get inflation under control this should not be at the expense of farmers being able to recoup the cost of production.
"There is a lot of recent evidence that the fall in the price of dairy products is having a very real and detrimental impact upon farm gate prices.
"This is a rather disappointing fiscal statement from the UK Government which does little to resolve the cost of living crisis and not much to instil confidence in the business community.
“Farmers in Wales have had their confidence impacted by trade deals that damage their interests, funding cuts for Welsh agriculture justified on the back of accounting tricks, and a Welsh Government that seems incapable of delivering a coherent habitat scheme for farmers as we move beyond the previous farm support system.
“There was an opportunity for the UK Government to provide a much needed confidence boost for the sector but it appears that we will need to wait once again to see the issues facing the farming community being seriously addressed by the Government in Westminster.”
Alasdair McDiarmid, the Community union's assistant general secretary, said: "Another year, another Tory Autumn Statement that offers precious little for our steel sector.
"The tax relief for energy intensive industries laid out by the Chancellor represents the most meagre of sticking plasters after years of industrial neglect.
"The underlying problems - uncompetitive electricity prices, a lack of meaningful support on decarbonisation and the absence of a coherent industrial strategy - have again gone unaddressed.
"Meanwhile we are still awaiting the introduction of a robust Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. There was one reference - tucked away in the small print of the statement - on the Treasury publishing its response to the consultation on carbon leakage 'shortly'.
"It's essential that 'shortly' means as soon as possible: we've had enough dithering, and time is of the essence if we want to stop the UK from becoming a dumping ground for dirty steel imports."
"Today's Autumn Statement highlighted what we already know: that this is a government devoid of ambition for steel, and one that has no industrial strategy to speak of."