Autumn Statement: Ready-to-go schemes to cut congestion to get £1.3bn

The Chancellor is set to announce the go-ahead for £1.3bn in local transport projects to reduce congestion and upgrade local roads and Highways England schemes to tackle pinchpoints in his Autumn Statement on Wednesday.

Philip Hammond will also accept a National Infrastructure Commission's recommendation to back an 'expressway' connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge with £27m in funding, it is expected. The Treasury confirmed the news following a report from Sky News that he could use Wednesday to signal backing for £15bn in infrastructure over the Parliament. A think-tank had said he has scope to inject as much as £31bn whilst still bearing down on the current account deficit.

Newspapers expect the Chancellor to freeze fuel duty and cut air passenger duty in a bid to help those who are "just about managing," as the Prime Minister vowed when she took power.