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Tweets, external: The most used words , externalin #Budget2015

Jon Fitzpatrick
President, Scottish Oil Club

George Osborne and the Treasury's decision to introduce tax subsidies to the North Sea oil producers will be very welcome by the industry. However, in reality, these concessions will likely only benefit the handful of tax-paying North Sea producers and will not address the much larger, structural issues facing the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Image source, PA

Beer and cider both received a duty cut. No such luck if you prefer a pinot grigio or a merlot though. More here.

Matthew Hancock, the Conservative business minister, is looking very positive in Parliament's central lobby. "We have the debt as a proportion of the economy falling, which is what we aimed for at the start of this parliament," he says. "It's very good news for the nation."

George Osborne's shade of grey, bookmaker William Hill says, means that those who bet on the hot favourite of his tie choice - blue at 8/15 - have been disappointed. Instead grey won with odds of 16/1 - but the highest-placed bet it received was just £12.

Olly emails: "I am pleased about several items in today's Budget; fuel duty frozen, raising 40p tax band to £43,3000, £25m support for veterans, new SW Rail franchise and the reduction of toll fares for the Severn Crossing. All of these will make my life considerably easier. And with the 1p drop in Beer Duty... I'll have a drink!"

Image source, Red Book

Tweets, external: And here's a chart Osborne made specially for Ed Balls, showing tweaked spending now NOT returning to 1930s...

Dr Richard Wilson
Chief executive, TIGA video games trade group

TIGA applauds the new support promised by the chancellor in the Budget for the UK video games sector. Following the achievement of Games Tax Relief, TIGA's top priority has been the achievement of a new Prototype Fund to enable start-up studios to access finance and develop playable prototypes. TIGA also called for the maintenance of the Skills Investment Fund, a measure that enables more studios to invest in skills, training and workforce development.

tweets:, external OBR predicts "rollercoaster" when it comes to public spending in the coming years, based on the plans set out by the government. #budget2015

The Treasury's only managed to get the debt down as a percentage of national income because of asset sales, Robert Peston suggests to Danny Alexander. The chief secretary rejects that suggestion and welcomes the fact that the surplus forecast for 2019/20 is down from £23bn to £7bn. "I think we should be looking to turn the corner even earlier - I don't think we need to be running big surpluses," he says. Desktop readers can watch their exchanges and the rest of our Budget coverage by clicking on the tab above.

Ed in Felsted emails: "Rather than the usual slanging match as is now under way, why doesn't Ed Balls stand up and give an alternative budget speech and let the voters decide come May!"

tweets: @BBC_HaveYourSay £10 off the tank with the Tories - Osborne tells the truth! The dominant partner in this govt cares zero for the environment

tweets:, external Another voter pleasing measure. After plan for free WiFi on trains, now free WiFi in public libraries included in this Budget.

Institute of Directors

This was a solid and responsible Budget. Few chancellors would be able to resist the temptation to binge on a £22bn windfall from the sale of bank shares this close to an election. By using it to pay down our national debt, George Osborne has shown commendable discipline.

Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat man in the Treasury, says he'd point to the big increase in the income tax allowance and funding for mental health as examples of policies that wouldn't be reality today if it wasn't for his party's presence in government. "The Tories of late have tried to copy our policy," he says on income tax. It was "the first item on the Liberal Democrat manifesto at the last election" - and he says he's "grateful" to Tory MPs for having voted it through. Without the Lib Dems, "it wouldn't have been a priority", he adds.

Kamal Ahmed
BBC Business editor

Businesses want this country to feel confident and they want consumers to feel confident. To that end, George Osborne's notion of the end of austerity by 2019 will be much welcomed.

Tweets, external: In order to shoot the Labour 1930s fox, public spending in 19/20 has been revised up by a whopping £28.5bn (1.3% GDP) in 13 weeks since AS

James Landale
Deputy political editor

In the first half, George Osborne was meticulously going through all the attacks made against the Conservatives by the Labour Party - debt, living standards, future spending cuts - and attempting to neutralise them all. The first half was all about reassurance. Then he shifted gear into the second half of the Budget which was his attempt to say look, there is this recovery out there, we're going to make it work for you. What the Conservatives will hope is that they can use this on the doorstep to say 'this is what the recovery actually means for you'.

Robert Peston
Economics editor

This Budget is incredibly political because George Osborne will now be able to say that the cuts take us back to the era of Gordon Brown, not the 1930s - thanks to the changes in spending plans that he's made since the autumn statement.

Jan Duperre in Elgin, Moray emails: "I don't know what planet Osborne woke up on this morning but it's not the one I live on. If we are so much better off, why has one in nine people been forced to use a food bank in the last year? Many of them folk who work full time? Zero hours contacts and minimum wage, 20 hour week part-time jobs might make his figures look good but that's the only thing that does."