Chris Johnston
Business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking of chancellors, as we have been all day, Philip Hammond's predecessor George Osborne appears set to make quite a tidy sum when he joins BlackRock, the world's largest fund manager. 

He will earn £650,000 a year for four days a month - no, not a week - for his efforts. 

Mr Osborne's remuneration was revealed today in the Commons register of MPs’ financial interests, external .

The register also discloses that he raked in close to £800,000 last year for giving 15 speeches.

BBC News Channel

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is asked what impact people would see from the extra £2bn for social care in the Budget.

He hopes it'll mean more people can receive grants from councils for their social care.

It will also take "a lot of pressure off" NHS hospitals, which haven't been able to discharge patients because they can't receive care locally, he says.

Labour argues the NHS also needed a significant cash injection in the Budget. 

Such funding "can only come from a strong economy" and strong public finances, Mr Hunt says. There was still an extra £300m for modernising the NHS and £100m for A&E departments, he adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Today’s budget has done nothing to improve the lives of black and minority ethnic families, according to independent race equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust.

The initial assessment of the Budget's impact on ethnic minorities "does not look good", said director Omar Khan.

"The 2% rise in National Insurance contributions for the self-employed will hit those working on low wages with little security in the gig economy. These workers are more likely to be ethnic minorities," he added.

Kathryn Petrie, external , economist at the Social Market Foundation, highlights that the Office For Business Responsibility is still forecasting inward migration to be over half a million in 2022.

BBC News asked five shopkeepers to explain how Chancellor Philip Hammond's Spring Budget affects them.

Image source, Getty Images

The pound is down against the US Dollar following the Budget.

It's fallen by 0.41% to 1.2150.

"There's been some optimism over the upward revision to growth this year, and the lower budget deficit forecasts over the period is obviously favourable for the fundamental picture," said Lee Hardman, an economist with MUFG in London. 

"But overall the main message is yes, that the budget deficit is coming in below their previous forecasts, but they're choosing to save the improvement in the budget deficit rather than to spend those funds, so for the economy that's fairly neutral." 

Sterling's also down by 0.21% against the  euro  at 1.1523 euros. 

BBC Radio 5 live

Green Party co-leader and Brighton MP Caroline Lucas has accused the Chancellor of delivering an "incredibly complacent budget that simply misses some of the biggest challenges we face". 

She told BBC Radio 5 live's Tony Livesey air pollution was a "public health emergency" that had not been tackled. Mr Hammond also did not mention anything about public transport investment, she said. 

“It was a squandered opportunity to do things like increasing Vehicle Excise Duty for new diesel vehicles."

Image source, Getty Images

There was little change on the London markets following the Budget.

The  FTSE 100  edged down by a mere 4 points or 0.06% to 7,334.61. 

The FTSE 250 rose slightly to 18,931.07, an increase of 45 points or 0.24%.

Spectator editor, Fraser Nelson, suggests the Chancellor faces a political backlash over plans to raise national insurance bills for self-employed workers:

BBC News Channel

But Torsten Bell of the Resolution Foundation backs the Chancellor's decision to increase National Insurance on self-employed workers.

Raising their national insurance bills is politically difficult and breaks a Conservative 2015 manifesto pledge, says Mr Bell (right). 

But it's also the "right thing to do".

The self-employed now have many of the same rights as those in full-time employment, so it's fairer and better for the public finances to tax them more, he says.

BBC News Channel

Increasing the tax bills for the self-employed is politically explosive, says Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs. 

The Chancellor "defused one bomb" by providing relief for business rate rises, Mr Littlewood says. 

"But he has definitely exploded another bomb with this rise in NICs [National Insurance Contributions] for the self-employed," Mr Littlewood adds.

Given that the measure will only raise £145m, he questions if the political risk is worth it.

Image source, PA

Budgets can change the political context overnight. This wasn't one of them. That doesn't mean however the government will escape unscathed.

Image source, Getty Images

The Chancellor gave £435m of support for pubs and small businesses affected by next month's change in business rates. 

The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) represents brands, including Pizza Express and Yo Sushi, as well as independent firms with only a couple of outlets. It welcomes Mr Hammond's move and says it's a "good first step on the road to permanent reform".    

"This much-needed government support will save the sector over £24m and will help safeguard investment and jobs," says AMLR chief executive, Kate Nicholls. 

“The next step is for the government to instigate the long term, root and branch reform that is needed for pubs and bars and the ALMR is keen to work closely with them to achieve this,” she adds.

Does the uncertainty around Brexit make the OBR's forecasts more difficult?

Chief executive Robert Chote says that predicting quarter-on-quarter growth is always a "mug's game".

"It's not appreciably more a mug's game as a result of this," he says.

Earlier, some of the difficulties were illustrated in this chart - which one journalist dubbed the "flamethrower of uncertainty".

A few standout details in the OBR's forecasts, external :

• It predicts that leaving the EU will slow the pace of import and export growth for the next 10 years
• There's no allowance for a "divorce settlement" from EU exit-related payments
• Household incomes will stagnate this year amid rising inflation (see the black line in the chart below)

Image source, Office for Budget Responsibility

Image source, Thinkstock

So just what will changes to so called "sin taxes" mean at the till?

Well, in line with previously planned upratings in duty on tobacco and alcohol, a packet of 20 cigarettes will cost you 35p more from 6pm tonight.

It'll cost 42p more from tonight for a 30 gram pack of hand rolled tobacco. 

From Monday 13 March a pint of beer will cost 2p more.

A bottle of whisky will go up by 36p, while a bottle of gin will rise by 34p.

Cider will be 1p more and still wine 10p more.

BBC Radio 5 live

Image source, Reuters

UKIP MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, has called for the current business rates system to be scrapped. 

It comes after chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans in the budget to provide extra relief for pubs and small businesses struggling with their business rates bill.

Carswell told BBC Radio 5 live  that basing the rate on property was "daft", as businesses "may be generating custom without actually having expensive premises". 

"I would personally like to scrap the system and come up with a system where businesses are taxed on the size of the business, on the value... rather than the premises that they happen to be locating", he said.