What will Philip Hammond say in his spring statement?

Calls for investment are growing but despite being in a good position the UK chancellor won't want to create waves

For years Britain has had not one annual budget but two. The real deal - the one where the chancellor stands outside 11 Downing Street with his little red box - has been in the spring, but there has also been another round of tax and spending measures included in an autumn statement.

Philip Hammond has changed all that. As of now, there will be only one big set-piece event each year and it will be a budget in the late autumn. This week we will see the first spring statement, a pared-down affair in which the chancellor will provide the latest economic and public finance forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility, announce some areas for consultation and leave it at that. No tax sweeteners, no extra money for cabinet colleagues pleading for cash, no change to the government's deficit-reduction approach.

What is austerity?

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a key government statistic and provides a measure of the UK's total economic activity.