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The Telegraph take

By Sophie Christie personal finance reporter

As expected, Philip Hammond's Spring Statement last week was a damp squib. There were minimal policy announcements or new spending initiatives – unsurprising given the Chancellor was keen not to create more difficulties for the Government as it struggles to finalise a Brexit deal.

Head of Telegraph Money Marc Sidwell called the economic update "boring in all the wrong ways". He said, "Where there were projections, Brexit uncertainty rendered them pointless. Where tax policy was in urgent need of action, there was silence. Where change was announced, it was trivial."

Mr Hammond did, however, reaffirm plans to press on with the Government's widely-criticised tax reporting changes for VAT-registered businesses, although he has postponed introducing similar reforms for income tax.

From April 1, the vast majority of small businesses with a turnover over the 85,000 VAT threshold will be required to submit quarterly returns online using specialist software.

Mr Hammond also announced that the Government would soon publish rules to ensure Child Trust Funds maintain their tax-free status after maturity. Until now it had been unclear what would happen to the fund after the child's 18th birthday.

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Colin James said about spreadsheet Phil’s 'boring' economic update: "Hammond and May are the worse pair to lead this country in living memory, they are abysmal. There is no up side to Hammond ever."

Paul Dover said about HMRC guidance comes too late on digital tax reforms: "Usual problem with HMRC, you can get no useful information or clarification from them but then you are penalised because your interpretation is different to theirs."

David Watts said about giving your child a house deposit? The council could take it to pay for care: "Stop the Mafioso extortionists charging upwards of 1000 a week for a room and some cheap vegetable broth to eat."

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