Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond delivered a “pragmatic” Autumn Statement designed to steady the ship for business, according to bosses.

There was a sense the Treasury had very little wriggle room as it revealed downgraded growth predictions from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Growth in GDP for 2017 was revised down from 2.2% to 1.4%, while cumulative growth over the next five years has been revised down by 2.4 percentage points following the vote to leave the EU.

In total, the OBR calculated the Brexit vote will increase Government borrowing by £58.7 billion over the next five years.

To combat the shrinkage in the economy, the Chancellor put his focus on addressing Britain’s low productivity levels, with the nation lagging behind the US and Germany by 30%, France by 20% and Italy by 8%.

It means it takes the average German worker four days to produce what a British worker does in five.

Mr Hammond announced a new national productivity investment fund, which will spend £23 billion over the next five years.

This will include £1.1 billion to reduce congestion and upgrade local roads and public transport, £1 billion to invest in full-fibre broadband and trialling 5G networks and £2 billion more research and development funding each year by 2020-21.

The Chancellor also said £2.3 billion will be spent on 100,000 new homes and £1.4 billion for development of 40,000 affordable homes.

Meanwhile, Mr Hammond said he would press ahead with previously announced plans to cut corporation tax to 17%, the lowest in the G20.

“There were some very good things in there about investment as far as housing and infrastructure were concerned but the amounts we are talking about are very small..." - Dominic Deeson, Deeson Group

Yet the measures did not entirely satisfy many business leaders.

“It was a very light statement,” said Dominic Deeson, an ambassador for Kent branch of the Institute of Directors and publisher at Canterbury-based Deeson Group.

“There were some very good things in there about investment as far as housing and infrastructure were concerned but the amounts we are talking about are very small.

“When it is spread across the country, what it will mean for Kent or any region will be minimal.”

Duncan Cochrane-Dyet, a partner at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, which has three Kent offices, said: “It was a very pragmatic statement by someone who has clearly got a business background and who has very little to play with.

“There were things in there about making the UK attractive to overseas businesses looking to invest.

"Our corporation tax rate will be the lowest in the G20 which means despite Brexit this is still a good place to come and invest.”

• What you need to know about the Autumn Statement