Summary

  • OBR downgrades UK growth forecasts

  • Sugar tax on soft drinks to be introduced

  • Fuel and beer duties frozen

  • New rail lines including Crossrail 2 and HS3 get green light

  • US Federal Reserve holds interest rates

Live Reporting

Russell Hotten and Chris Johnston

  1. Correlation between corporate hospitality and business confidence

    Simon Bazelgette, chairman of the Jockey Club, says that there's a correlation between corporate hospitality spending at the Cheltenham races and general UK business confidence:

    Ruby Walsh celebrates after riding Annie Power to victoryg

    2008 was a peak for us in hospitality, 2009 it dropped considerably although attendances stayed relatively strong, and they stayed very low for two or three years but really since 2011/2012 they've been growing strongly and over the last five years our level of hospitality sales at Cheltenham has doubled... Low interest rates and economic growth contributed to people's optimism."

  2. Champagne on ice

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    Champagne on iceGetty Images

    Where better to broadcast from for an austerity Budget than the Cheltenham races? Matthew Price says they are bringing in more lobster and salmon as the sun rises, and 5,000 bottles of champagne are on ice. The four day event generates £100m for the local economy, the Jockey Club says.

  3. Certainty and stability please

    BBC Radio 5 Live

    The pension industry is looking for certainty and stability says Fiona Tate, a pensions specialist from Royal London. 

    Speaking to Wake Up to Money she said a period of calm was needed.

    "The most positive thing he [George Osborne] could do is to give us some stability and commit to saying that things won't change at least for the next two or three years. Then you have some certainty on what landscape you are working in."

  4. Coming up on Today

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  5. Stealth taxes and equity prices

    BBC Radio 5 Live

    An array of To Let and For Sale signsGetty Images

    Look out for stealth taxes says Mike Amey, managing director and portfolio manager at Pimco - one of the world's biggest bond investors.

    He told Wake Up to Money that taxes you might not realise you are paying, such as higher stamp duty on buy-to-let properties, will have an immediate impact.

    "The value of those companies react quite quickly. If he [George Osborne] puts a sneaky one in... watch the equity prices of those companies."

  6. Three steps to heaven?

    BBC Radio 5 Live

    Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General, says the UK should focus on three steps to build the economy: infrastructure across the UK; encouraging more equity to be put into small business; and giving big business confidence to invest more.

  7. Business taxation 'needs fundamental strategic review'

    BBC Radio 5 Live

    Sir Charlie MayfieldPA

    Sir Charlie Mayfield, chairman of John Lewis Partnership, tells Wake Up to Money he wants to see a review of the way businesses are taxed.

    I do think the time is coming for us to have a really hard look at the whole structure of business taxation. 80-odd% of taxes that are paid by retailers are in the form of business rates and National Insurance. Corporation tax is only 12% of the taxes paid by retailers. So while that always gets the headlines, it's a very small proportion, and effectively what we've got is... a situation where this ambition of having a low tax economy is sort of being paid for by businesses that are large employers of people and large users of property. I do think there's a case perhaps over the next several years to look at a much more fundamental strategic review of business taxation."

  8. Good morning

    Chancellor George Osborne will deliver his Budget statement today. Spending cuts worth £4bn and infrastructure spending announcements are expected. He's also outlined significant changes in education; every school in England will have to become an academy - free from local council control - by 2022. And secondary schools will be able to bid for funding to extend the school day with extracurricular activities such as sport or drama.