Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delayed his fiscal statement until November 17th and will now be a full Autumn Statement.
The statement had been due to take place on Monday 31st October.
In a statement the Chancellor said: “Our number one priority is economic stability and restoring confidence that the United Kingdom is a country that pays its way.
“It is for that reason that the medium-term fiscal plan is extremely important and I want to confirm that it will demonstrate debt falling over the medium-term which is very important for people to understand.
“But it is also extremely important that the statement is based on the most accurate possible economic forecasts and forecasts of public finances and for that reason, the Prime Minister and I have decided that it is prudent to make that statement on the 17th of November when it will be upgraded to a full Autumn Statement.
“I discussed this last night with the Governor of the Bank of England, who understands the reasons for doing that, and I will continue to work closely with him.”
The move now sees the statement come after the Bank of England’s interest rate decision on 3rd November – something that the Governor of the Bank had said should happen after the statement.
Without that clarity, the Bank may be forced to increase rates by a larger increment than expected.
