Chancellor's Autumn Statement - word 'climate' appears nowhere!

To connect our towns and cities, we’re investing £21bn on roads and £46bn on railways.

Our Integrated Rail Plan will be published soon, dramatically improving journey times between our towns and cities.

And funding for buses, cycling and walking totalling more than £5bn.

The Prime Minister promised an infrastructure revolution – this Budget delivers an infrastructure revolution. 

Our ambitious Net Zero strategy is also an innovation strategy, investing £30bn to create the new, green industries of the future.

We’ve just issued our second Green Bond, making us the third-largest issuer of sovereign green bonds anywhere in the world.

London last week was named the best place in the world for green finance.

And on Monday, the new UK Infrastructure Bank announced its first ever investment:

£107m to support offshore wind in Teesside.

And to build on this work, one week today I’ll be hosting global finance ministers and businesses at COP26.

Air Passenger Duty

Let me turn now to Air Passenger Duty.

Right now, people pay more for return flights within and between the four nations of the United Kingdom than they do when flying home from abroad.

We used to have a return-leg exemption for domestic flights but were required to remove it in 2001.

But today I can announce that flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will…

…from April 2023, be subject to a new lower rate of Air Passenger Duty.

This will help cut the cost of living, with 9 million passengers seeing their duty cut by half.

It will bring people together across the UK.

And because they tend to have a greater proportion of domestic passengers…

…it is a boost to regional airports like Aberdeen, Belfast, Inverness and Southampton.

Airports are major regional employers – so to help them get through the winter…

…I’m also extending our support for English airports for a further six months.

We’re also making changes to reduce carbon emissions from aviation.

Most emissions come from international rather than domestic aviation.

So I’m introducing, from April 2023, a new ultra long haul band in Air Passenger Duty…

…covering flights of over 5,500 miles, with an economy rate of £91.

Less than 5% of passengers will pay more; but those who fly furthest will pay the most.

After 12 consecutive years of frozen rates, the average car driver will now save a total of £1,900.