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Our priority is to build a national consensus around our exit from the EU. We have already started a wide-ranging programme of engagement, listening to organisations, institutions and companies in as many sectors as possible to establish their priorities and understand their concerns, and also to hear what they think the opportunities are.

But the Prime Minister and I remain firmly committed to seeing the public finances return to balance as soon as practicable.

To kickstart this new approach, I will allow up to £1bn of the savings found by the efficiency review in 19/20 to be reinvested in priority areas and I have budgeted today accordingly.

The government has therefore set new fiscal targets which aim for 2% underlying deficit and debt falling by 2020, and a balanced budget as soon as possible thereafter.

So we choose in this Autumn Statement to prioritise additional high-value investment, specifically in infrastructure and innovation, that will directly contribute to raising Britain’s productivity.