Fishburn Hedges

29.11.2011

This autumn we have covered all three of the leaders’ party conference speeches via Twitter, pulling out tweets from top commentators to give you a succinct roundup of the main points.  I was looking forward to viewing this afternoon’s speech through the Twitter lens and duly set up the Autumn Statement hashtag (#AS2011) on Tweetdeck and sat back to enjoy the spectacle.

Frankly I was stunned at the number of tweets that came through so quickly and it was impossible to read them all; however, here are a few to give you a flavour of the key areas covered. Read Dermot Finch’s blog for further analysis of the speech.

@adamboultonSKY GO says he will hit debt "mandates" but two years later 2016/2017 i.e. not by 2015 General election as he pledged.

@BBCStephanie Cumulatively, there are 1 million fewer new jobs in this forecast than in the budget forecast. Though employment still higher in 2015.

@frasernels Osborne's 1% pay rise for public sector workers will look even tougher when OBR release RPI forecasts later today. Major real terms cut.

@jameschappers DFID budget *will* be slashed as Osborne admits it's currently on course to exceed 0.7% of GDP target for foreign aid

@Sun_Politics State pension age to go up from 66 to 67 in 2026 - 10 years earlier than planned. It saves £59 billion, and will annoy millions.

@glenoglazaSky Sons of Thatcher reinvigorate "right to buy". Clegg also nodding enthusuastically, Hear Hears loud from govt benches

@janemerrick23 Osborne has to raise bank levy to 0.088pc so can raise £2.5bn pa. Admission that current levy not working

@PwC_UK The heavy fire power has been expended on financing and infrastructure spend. Plenty of other measures but on a much smaller scale

@paulwaugh Osborne gives Tory MPs some cheer by signalling change to Tupe + 'no fault' dismissal. Is that why Vince not here?

@ITVLauraK 100 additional free schools - remember it's up to local communities to organise and set them up, so how can you guarantee where they go?