This means following the spring 2017 Budget and Finance Bill, Budgets will be delivered in the autumn, with the first one taking place in autumn 2017.

Businesses, economy and tax experts including CIOT, the CBI and Institute of Fiscal Studies have all been calling for this change, which started under Gordon Brown in mid 2000. It will mean businesses and people face less frequent changes to the tax system, helping to promote certainty and stability.

The Chancellor said: ‘This will be my first and last Autumn Statement, it is pointless having two Budgets - effectively a spring Budget will be replaced by a single autumn Budget. There is no point in making significant changes just for the sake of it and this will allow for greater parliamentary scrutiny.’

The Spring Budget 2017 will be the final Budget held in the first quarter of the year, with an autumn date slated for all future Budgets.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is required by law to produce two forecasts a year. One of these will remain at Budget. The other will fall in the spring and the government will respond to it with a Spring Statement.

As normal, the Finance Bill will follow the Budget, as it does now, with plans for a Finance Bill in spring/summer 2017.

From winter 2017, Finance Bills will be introduced following the Budget. The aim will be to reach Royal Assent in the spring, before the start of the following tax year. This change in timetable will help parliament to scrutinise tax changes before the tax year where most take effect.

Consultation process retained

The government remains committed to consulting on policy as set out in ‘the new approach to tax policy making’ in 2010. Most measures proposed at a Budget will be subject to policy consultation in the spring and publication of draft legislation in the summer, before being legislated in the Finance Bill after the following Budget.

To build on this and allow for an earlier stage of involvement on key strategic challenges, the Chancellor has said that he may launch consultations on how to address these longer-term issues at the Spring Statement.

Since 2011, most tax policy consultation summaries and draft Finance Bill legislation have been published on Legislation day, this year scheduled for 5 December. From 2018, ‘L-day’ will move to the summer.

Arrangements will be decided individually for different policies and set out to stakeholders by HMRC. In the normal way, these will where possible provide for consultation on policy proposals and on draft legislation.