In his penultimate trip to the despatch box in this parliament, Osborne urged the electorate to "stay the course" as he outlined the scale of cuts that will need to be made in the next four years to eliminate the remaining £91.3bn deficit.

While this is half the size of the deficit the coalition inherited and while there was good news on the wider economy, which is now forecast to grow at 3% this year - the fastest of any G7 nation, Osborne has been forced to reassess his original assessment that balancing the nation's books was a one-parliament job.

This formed the central theme of yesterday's argument and will continue to be the Conservative message until polling day: the job is only half done, let us finish it.

Or, as the chancellor put it: "Britain faces a choice. Do we squander the economic security we have gained, go back to the disastrous decisions on spending and borrowing and welfare that got us into this mess? Or do we finish the job – and go on building the secure economy that works for everyone.

"I say: we stay the course. We stay on course to prosperity."

While there is one more Budget to come before the nation gets to have its say at the ballot box, Osborne's coalition partner of the past four years, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, left no doubt as to the importance of yesterday's announcement.

"I think you should focus on the Autumn Statement as being the big event in economic policy for the coalition for the remainder of this parliament," he told the BBC's economics editor Robert Peston.

And, compared to previous Autumn Statements, which have always played second-fiddle to March's Budget, there was much more meat to yesterday's event, including the headline reform of Stamp Duty and the £3.2m of additional NHS funding.

From a business perspective, the chancellor has continued his support for SMEs in the form of the previously announced boosts to the FLS, EFG and ECF schemes, as well as the continuation of the doubling of Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) and 2% cap on the RPI-linked increase to the business rates multiplier.

BPIF membership director Dale Wallis said: "While tight public finances have clearly left the chancellor with limited scope this autumn, we are pleased that a number of targeted measures to help smaller firms have been introduced covering lending, business rates, tax credits and infrastructure investment."

Potentially of greater interest will be the result of a review into the structure of business rates, which will report back by the Budget 2016. Mark Nelson, director of Compass Business Finance, said a review was long overdue, but warned it could simply be a case of card shuffling.

"The current structure has been in place since 1988 and like the Stamp Duty changes, the strategy will be for the quantum of tax paid overall to remain about the same, but the process to be more balanced," he said.

"This could be welcomed by many, particularly on the high street, where business rates can be onerous, but as far as the print sector is concerned it’s hard to say whether there may savings down the line.

"The review isn’t due to complete until after the next election, although its interim findings are due to be published later this month, so we’ll know more then. But as always the devil will be in the detail, which we won’t know until next year!
 
"It’s like shuffling a pack of cards, you start with 52 and you end up with 52, just not in the same order!"

There were also further funding boosts for UKTI and FCO schemes to help grow UK exports, particularly with emerging and developing economies, and the creation of a sovereign wealth fund for the North of England that would see any proceeds from shale gas exploration reinvested in the region.

Further investment in transport, superfast broadband and science and innovation, all focused on the North in a bid to continue rebalancing the economy, was no doubt also intended to counter the Tory image as a party of the South East.

Other electioneering announcements included increases in the personal allowance and the higher-rate tax threshold, reductions in airline passenger duty and a continued freeze on fuel duty. There was also the anticipated 'Google Tax' on multinationals that shift profits out of the UK.

See next week's PrintWeek for an analysis of the Autumn Statement's impact on print.