Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Asking the Chancellor whether austerity is over, Today programme presenter Nick Robinson asks "When did you discover your inner Ed Balls".

Chancellor George Osborne tells him there are still “difficult decisions ahead” but that he has set out a path to reach a surplus by the end of this parliament.

Chancellor George Osborne tells BBC Breakfast that big firms will "get back" money spent on the apprenticeships levy, if they have a lot of trainees.

You can click on the picture below to hear what he had to say:

BBC Breakfast

The Chancellor George Osborne speaks to BBC Breakfast from a building site in Essex.

He explains that the apprenticeships levy is not simply a tax on companies.

He says that very big companies will pay "a bit" of money to train the workforce through the levy.

But he says if they have a lot of apprentices "they will get the money back".

He is asked about Universal Credit and whether people will lose money under the new arrangement. 

He says Universal Credit will be simpler and be more affordable for the country.  

The Chancellor also says that he doesn't agree with those that say the welfare bill shouldn't be cut at all.

BBC Breakfast

Mr McDonnell is concerned that the government is selling £5bn of national assets to foreign owners. He adds one the government's announced plans is to sell air traffic control. "Do we want our air traffic control in the hands of foreign owners? I don't think we do," he says.  

BBC Breakfast

The chancellor’s U-turn on working tax credits is only a partial reversal because the government is going ahead with its plans for universal credits, Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell tells Breakfast. He says universal credit will cost some families £1,000 a year and some disabled people £2,500 a year.

Mr McDonnell claims a Labour victory on police spending cuts and a partial victory over social care.

He says on cuts to the police that Labour will look at the detail on policing numbers. Mr McDonnell claims the government has been fiddling with the numbers to claim that there are more police on the streets despite cuts to police numbers of 17,000 in the last five years.

The Times reports, external that there is "fury" after the government abandoned a £1bn project to capture carbon dioxide emissions from power stations and bury them underground.

It quotes Luke Warren, the chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association who said the decision was "devastating" and described it as an act of "economic vandalism".

Telegraph commentator Allister Heath tweets:

BBC Radio 5 Live

Paul Johnson director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies is on Radio 5 live now.

He says there's a 50/50 chance that the forecasts (for growth and tax receipts) could go the wrong way for the Chancellor, which may mean he is not able to deliver the promised budget surplus by 2020.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

There are a lot of headlines about this being the end of austerity.

“Oh no it isn’t,” says Mr Johnson. We are still in a world were government spending is falling from 40% of national income to just over 36% of national income. 

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

How did the Chancellor find £27bn?

“It’s worth saying it’s a silly number as it accumulates over five years… but it isn’t anywhere near as big as it sounds,” Paul Johnson of the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) tells Today. 

The actual number in an individual year is more like £5bn or £6bn, he says. 

Is it definitely a real number? "Well, I don’t know about definitely," Mr Johnson says.

The number should be viewed as a set of forecasting changes, he adds.

The chancellor “got lucky” in that the Office for Budge Responsibility forecasts came in better than expected. It’s a relatively small change in the grand scheme of things, Mr Johnson says.

But despite being a relatively small change it allows George Osborne "quite a lot of wiggle room" to reduce the impact of cuts on unprotected departments.

Tesco has settled a class action lawsuit by US shareholders, who were suing the company over Tesco's overstatement of its profit guidance last year.

Tesco will pay £12m to settle the lawsuit. 

The Sun: "Borne lucky"

The Daily Telegraph: "The end of austerity"

Financial Times: "Osborne swaps axe for tax as he retreats on cuts and pivots to the centre" 

The Guardian: "Chancellor's £27bn U-turn"

The Times: "Osborne's happy hour" 

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

There is a concern that we are "moving away from further education colleges adding to the skills of the population in the way they were doing it before to... low quality apprenticeships," says Vicky Pryce on Today.

The chancellor has "quite cleverly" passed the costs for training and skills onto businesses through apprenticeships but the fact the government has reduced grants to students to attend further education colleges – it has replaced grants with loans – may deter people from studying and gaining the skills the UK economy needs, she adds.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

So what about the chancellor's Autumn Statement pledge to build more homes? Helen Allen, head of strategic accounts at Randstad CPE - recruitment experts in construction, property and engineering - tells Today the UK needs to build around 300,000 homes per year over the next five years.

Around 1 million people are working in the industry which is expected to build 148,000 homes this year she says. 

To double that will be "quite some feat" according to Ms Allen.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

A new, higher forecast for tax receipts over the next four years has given the Chancellor an extra £27bn to play with.

However economist Vicky Pryce is worried that economic growth in the next few years will slow and that will mean George Osborne won’t get the tax receipts he expects.

“I think it’s a quite risky thing to do,” she says.

But she thinks interest rates and inflation will remain low, which will depress the cost of government borrowing.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Proposed cuts in tax credits were deferred rather than cancelled says Robin Williamson from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, on Wake Up To Money.

When Universal Credit comes into full effect, claimants can expect a "substantial drop" in income. Fewer people will be eligible for credits as well.

But he says the detail is "fairly mind-boggling".