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BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg examines the "chunky downgrades to growth" revealed in George Osborne's Budget.

The Chancellor's full speech clocked in at 9,223 words and took one hour and three minutes to deliver.

There were 18 mentions of the "next generation", 18 references to the "long term", 18 to "infrastructure", 12 mentions of "children", eight of "small business", six references to the "Northern Powerhouse", six mentions of the "EU" or "European Union" and four references to "young people".

And what of the favourite buzz-phrase of the last election, the one repeated with iron discipline on the campaign trail by Conservatives from the prime minister downwards? 

Well don't worry, the "long term economic plan" lives on, and was invoked four times by the Chancellor in the course of the hour.

Small businesses are the clear winners from Chancellor George Osborne's eighth Budget.

Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said the Chancellor did little to address the risk that poverty presents for the economy.

"The extra support he offered – tax cuts and savings help for better-off workers and extra support for business – will bypass those in work but living in poverty," she said.

“With the economy recovering, this was the ideal time to set out a long-term plan to help those on the lowest incomes and ensure they share in on the UK’s prosperity. Instead, lack of security and risk of poverty remains the reality for millions of people on low incomes.”

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell welcomed George Osborne's infrastructure announcements, such as investments in rail, but said the Chancellor would not have the commitment to see them through.

"Time and time again he has come to the House to announce new infrastructure initiatives... but he's not delivered. Every time he sets himself a target he fails. His delivery record is so poor that people are sceptical," Mr McDonnell said.

Kamal Ahmed
Economics editor

George Osborne set himself three fiscal rules: to cap welfare spending, to bring down debt as a proportion of national income and to produce a surplus by the end of the Parliament.

The welfare cap was breached when the government was forced into a U-turn on cuts to tax credits last year.

Today, the rule on reducing debt has also been broken.

Read more from Kamal here.

One of the Chancellor's more notable announcements was on income tax. 

From April 2017, the rate at which workers start paying top rate tax will be raised from £42,385 to £45,000, with the tax-free personal allowance raised to £11,500. 

Here's how the breakdown will look when it comes into effect:

Niki Dixon and Nigel Barker, tax specialists at Deloitte, have been analysing the Budget for the BBC. 

New Lifetime ISA: Aimedat the under 40s, this provides a completely new savings vehicle. Those under 40 will be able to save £4,000 and get a £1,000 annual contribution from the Government up to the age of 50. The account can be used to pay for the deposit on a first home or be drawn down after age 60. Withdrawals outside these limited circumstances would result in the claw back of the government bonus and a 5% penalty charge.  

Corporation tax: The reduction in the headline rate to 17% from 2020 gives the UK one of the lowest rates in the developed world and is expected to continue to attract business here.

Anti-avoidance push: Proposed changes in corporation tax including restrictions on the deduction of finance costs and other tax-raising measures are expected to generate an additional £8bn over the next five years. Overall the raft of measures in the Budget are expected to raise another £12bn of tax, so this remains an area of focus for HMRC. 

BBC social affairs correspondent Michael Buchanan reports:

The Office for Budget Responsibility says the government is going to breach its own welfare cap in every remaining year of this Parliament. Forecasts by the OBR in November indicated that spending on benefits would be within the cap towards the end of the Parliament. However, its updated analysis today says spending will "exceed the permitted amount in every year, and by a larger margin than in November". 

The additional spending is mainly caused by more people than expected being eligible for disability benefits. The predicted increase comes despite changes to one disability benefit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), announced last week. 

The tighter rules are expected to see 290,000 fewer people being eligible for PIP with a further 80,000 getting a lower award. The OBR estimate the measure will save £1.3bn in 2019/20 and 20/21. Despite the increased costs, by 2020/21, the percentage of GDP spend on welfare will be at its lowest level in 30 years, according to the OBR.  

Image source, Getty Images

So what does the Budget mean for you? Personal finance reporter Kevin Peachey has the lowdown here.

Image source, Getty Images

A duty freeze on beer, cider and spirits to support pubs and Scotland's whisky industry has been welcomed by the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.

Miles Beale, its chief executive, said 25 million spirits consumers would welcome the spirits duty freeze, but expressed disappointment that 30 million wine drinkers had been "singled out for a duty rise". 

"The freeze in wine duty in 2015 has resulted in £118m extra in revenue to the Treasury in the last 10 months, up 4%, which makes it very unfair that wine has been penalised," he said.

David Frost, Scotch Whisky Association chief executive, also hailed the freeze for duty on spirits but added: "Tax is still 76% of the price of an average bottle of Scotch and the majority of the British public think that is unfairly high."

The Food and Drink Federation is not at all happy with George Osborne's sugar tax, as you might imagine. Its director-general, Ian Wright, says:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, PA

Roger White, chief executive of Irn Bru maker A.G. Barr, comments on the Chancellor's new sugar tax: "It is extremely disappointing that soft drinks have been singled out given it is the only food and drink category to have made any real progress in reducing sugar intake in recent years, down 13.6 per cent since 2012. 

"We will await further details and ensure that we are fully involved in the consultation process to ensure our position, and progress to date, are well understood."

BBC Newsnight

The Treasury will benefit from lower interest debt spending, but the decline in economic growth will hit tax receipts, OBR chief Robert Chote says. 

Over the course of this parliament, the deficit will rise by £56bn over five years, which he says sounds like a huge number but only amounts to 0.5% of GDP.

Plenty more detail on the OBR's fiscal and economic outlook here, external.

Image source, Google

What's been of most interest to the public? Here's a trends graph of Google searches so far. Pensions have been a hot topic, but the announcement of a tax on sugary drinks clearly had people thirsting for more information.