MPs call for Autumn Statement overhaul and return to single Budget

MPs have attacked the Treasury over the growing importance given to the Autumn Statement calling its two 'Budget' structure costly and confusing, and appealed for a return to a single annual Budget.

The Treasury Committee said in a report that the Autumn Statement had almost become a second Budget with announcements of tax and policy changes and it created uncertainty which proved costly for businesses and the economy.

The committee’s report said: 'The Autumn Statement is not, nor should it be, a second Budget. In recent years it has come to read like one. The implications are that business and the economy needs to react to two periods, not one, of potential uncertainty and change.

'A return to a position of one Budget in the spring, and an updating statement in the autumn, would be desirable.'

The Treasury has said it will take the report into consideration.