One important announcement was a measure to help the farming community by extending their reporting period so that farmers have more time to average their profits for income tax.

The government said it will provide further support to farmers by increasing the period over which they can average their profits for income tax from two to five years from April 2016.

Osborne stressed ‘that it is important to have a productive and resilient agricultural sector.

‘Uncontrollable factors such as the weather lead to volatile profits for farmers, making it difficult to plan for the future.’

The news was welcomed by the National Farmers Union which had called for the change in its Manifesto 2015, outlining its wishlist for government measures to support agriculture.