Autumn Statement: What to expect from George Osborne today

George Osborne is set to give his Autumn Statement to the Commons today. Here's what to expect.

Already announced

• £15bn into UK roads in the next parliament, including Stonehenge tunnel for A303 to West Country
• £2bn of extra funding for the NHS
• Garden City for Bicester

Likely

• GDP forecast upgraded from 2.7 per cent to 3 per cent (2014), 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent (2015)
• Borrowing for 2014/15 revised up by £10-£15bn due to weak tax receipts
• Northern Ireland given power to set its own corporation tax rate

Possible

• Working age benefits frozen to 2018
• Reforms for business rates
• Pension reforms to include tax cuts for widows and widowers with annuities to inherit
• No air passenger duty for children
• Rhetoric, but no action, on increasing income tax personal allowance to £12,500 by end of the next parliament
• Rhetoric on boosting competitiveness for manufacturing
• Export-boosting policies
• Clampdown on tax avoidance for loans and derivatives
• Review of tax treatment for North Sea oil exploration

Leftfield

• Reform to inheritance tax rules, bringing nil-rate band from £325,000 (£650,000 for couples) to £1m
• Reforms to the controversial “patent box” super-low tax treatment for patented products
• Measures to encourage philanthropic giving to community projects