Summary

  • New compulsory living wage of £9 hour by 2020

  • Chancellor delays plan for a budget surplus by a year

  • £37bn of spending cuts planned for this parliament

  • CBI warns of 'gamble' of raising minimum wage

  • Peston: 'Less austerity, more taxes'

  • Mortgage interest tax relief to be limited on buy-to-let

  • Tax on corporate profits to be cut to 18%

Live Reporting

Victoria King, Emma Ailes and Chris Johnston

  1. Labour reaction

    Associate editor of the Huffington Post tweets...

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  2. 'Dangerous gamble'

    Budget response in from charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Like many in the charitable and public sector, it fears low-income working families will be hit worst by the welfare cuts announced.

    Higher income from increasing the national minimum wage and the personal tax allowance will go some way towards closing the gap, but cutting support before the jobs market has had the chance to respond is a dangerous gamble. We need a credible long-term plan to make work more secure, build more affordable homes and lower essential bills, or times will simply get tougher for those on low incomes.”

    Julia Unwin, Chief Executive, Joseph Rowntree Foundation

  3. Red George?

    The chief political correspondent for the Financial Times tweets...

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  4. 'Game changer'

    Frank FieldPA

    Frank Field, veteran Labour MP and chairman of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, says the "national living wage" announced by Mr Osborne could be a "game changing move", but he adds:

    What's crucial now is to ensure that the level at which it's set by the end of the parliament is matched by productivity increases so it is sustainable. The immediate issue, however, is how many strivers will be made worse off by the other announcements the chancellor has made and what moves should we initiate to ensure that our constituents' wish that work will pay is fulfilled."

  5. Labour budget briefing

    Isabel Hardman is Assistant editor at The Spectator. She tweets:

  6. Jobs vs pay

    The deputy political editor of the Sun tweets...

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  7. Sad face, happy face

    Emoji

    Why get bogged down all those figures ... not to mention all those words?

    For those pressed for time, here are a few key provisions outlined in Wednesday's UK Budget... in emoji.

  8. 'But what does it all mean for me?'

    Stock picGetty

    Of course, what we all really want to know is what the Budget means for "the pound in our pocket" (if you'll forgive the Budget day cliche).

    Our personal finance reporter Kevin Peachey has been considering some of your questions - take a look here.

  9. Living Wage Foundation weighs in

    Lewis Goodall
    Newsnight producer

    Many are asking if this is a real living wage. Well, the Living Wage Foundation has waded in with a press release.

    Is this really a Living Wage? The Living Wage is calculated according to the cost of living whereas the Low Pay Commission calculates a rate according to what the market can bear. Without a change of remit for the Low Pay Commission this is effectively a higher National Minimum Wage and not a Living Wage."

      From the horse's mouth...  

  10. Osborne 'stole Labour's clothes'

    Iain Watson
    Political correspondent

    Parliament

    It was the first fully-fledged Conservative Budget for nearly two decades, and one that was as deeply political as it was fiscal. Although the speech lasted little more than an hour, it was substantial in its scope. Channelling former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, George Osborne said 'there will be no turning back'. But in some key respects, it was Labour's clothes he stole."

    Read more from Iain here

  11. Scottish reaction

    As might be expected, many in the public and charitable sector in Scotland have strongly criticised the chancellor's announcements.

    John Downie, director of public affairs at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations said:

    This is the work of an economically-illiterate chancellor who is dead set on cutting, freezing and scrapping welfare to reach his target of £12 billion cuts. He's demonstrating a cruel disregard for the impact this will have on hundreds of thousands of people's lives."

    Mary Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, says welfare cuts "have the potential to be just as damaging as the bedroom tax".

    Freezing working age benefits for four years and restricting tax credits and Universal Credit to two children, affecting those born after April 2017, will only serve to make it harder to escape the poverty trap."

    Jackie Brock, the chief executive of Children in Scotland, branded the Budget "simply shameful".

    Given the entrenching of inequality and social division that will result, there is a horrible and disturbing irony in George Osborne calling his spending plans 'a one nation Budget for one nation'. It is quite the opposite."

  12. Banks and the budget

    BBC business reporter Rob Young tweets:

  13. Services 'not mullered'

    Robert Peston
    Economics editor

    What I take away from this is that the path to austerity is much less painful that we thought. If you're sitting in the Home Office or the Ministry of Defence, or if you work in culture media and sport, you're not quite cracking open the champagne, but you've not been - to use a technical term - mullered. And for all the rhetoric, this is actually a tax cutting Budget. That said, we should not underestimate that the welfare cuts will have a very big impact - not least the cuts to tax credits.

  14. Winners and losers

    They'll be a lower benefits cap for areas outside of London - £20,000 as opposed to £23,000. 

    Why discriminate? Read the story on Newsnight Live

  15. Small business reaction to the Budget

    A mixed reaction to the Budget from the Federation of Small Business:

    We agree with the focus on productivity but need to see the details to raise skills through the apprenticeship levy on large firms. Planning reforms are also critical to raising productivity and again we look forward to seeing the proposals on Friday.

    John Allan, National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses

    However, even though offset by a welcome increase in the employment allowance, some will find the new National Living Wage challenging. Changes to the treatment of dividends will also affect many of our members.

  16. A brief history of Sunday shopping

    Shops in England and Wales could be allowed to open for longer on Sundays, under budget plans.

    Here's a brief history of Sunday shopping from Newsnight live

    Busy shoppersGetty Images

    You can find Newsnight's live page here.

  17. Non-doms: now and then

    Lewis Goodall, Newsnight producer

    George Osborne has just announced a change to rules on non-doms. It's a bit different to Labour's plan they unveiled in the election campaign but it's very much in a similar vein. 

    At the time the chancellor said Labour was "tinkering around the edges" and that Labour's non-dom plan was "a total shambles". Maybe it was Ed Miliband's only legacy, after all.

    More at Newsnight Live

  18. Budget: Firestarter

    ITV news economic editor tweets

  19. And they're coming out

    George Osborne and the Treasury team

    As usual, the Treasury team appear outside Number 11 Downing Street for the traditional Budget photo. Now it's off to the Commons.

  20. Budget: What we know so far

    Right let's have a quick recap of what we know, or what we think we know, is coming up in the Budget:

    - The Student Maintenance Allowance looks set to be scrapped

    - Tax credits face changes with limits for families with more than two children

    - Social housing tenants earning more than £40,000 in London and £30,0000 in the rest of the country will be expected to pay market rents 

    - The benefits cap is to be lowered to £23,000 in London and £20,000 elsewhere 

    - The chancellor is expected to increase the threshold at which the 40% rate of tax kicks in

    - There's a good chance Mr Osborne will also increase the personal allowance from £10,600 earlier than anticipated

    - Some people are suggesting the chancellor could even merge National Insurance and income tax

    - It's expected the chancellor will increase the inheritance tax threshold to £1m

    - And it's likely that the Right to Buy scheme will be extended to tenants housing associations 

    - Finally, we already know that the government will amend Sunday trading laws

    - And the BBC will have to pay for free TV licences for the over 75s starting in 2018