Philip Hammond tells the House that the UK has the lowest tax gap in the world "but there is more that we can do".

He announces a number of measures to tackle non-compliance:

• Tackling abuse of foreign pension schemes
• Introducing UK VAT on roaming telecoms services
• Implementing new financial penalties for professionals who enable a tax avoidance arrangement that is later defeated by HMRC

This, he says, will raise £830m over the forecast period.

Ahead of the Budget, there was fierce lobbying from businesses and backbench MPs for the Chancellor to ease the burden from higher business rates. 

The Chancellor says the tax brings in £25bn a year, so he can't abolish the rates. But he unveils three measures to help those affected:

1 No business losing small business rate relief will see their bill increase next year by more than £50 a month

2 90% of local pubs will have a £1,000 discount on their business rates bill

3 A £300m fund for local councils to offer discretionary relief for hard-hit cases

The Chancellor says UK debt is expected to peak at 88.8% of economic output next year - although that will be 1.4 percentage points lower than the OBR had forecast in the Autumn.

It will then start falling in 2018-19, for the first time in almost 20 years, and will continue to drop, reaching 79.8% in 2021-22, Mr Hammond says.  

Philip Hammond dismisses arguments that the lower borrowing forecasts should mean "more unfunded spending" 

He says that Britain has a debt of nearly £1.7 trillion and that "each year, we are spending £50 billion on debt interest".

The only responsible course of action, he argues, is to continue with our plan.

"We will not saddle our children with ever-increasing debts."

Image source, PA

The economic forecast is broadly unchanged the Chancellor tells MPs.

The OBR has substantially revised down its short-term forecast of Public Sector Net Borrowing.

However he says this is attributed to "one-off factors" adding that the OBR does not expect this to lead to "structural improvement over the forecast period".

The OBR now forecasts

£51.7bn in 2016

£53.8bn  in 2017 

£40.8bn in 2018

£21.4bn in 2019

£20.6bn in 2020 

£16.8bn in 2021

Inflation is forecast to hit 2.4% this year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

It will then fall to 2.3% in 2018 and 2% in 2019, the Chancellor says.

That will keep it at or above the Bank of England's 2% inflation target for three years.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility has - as expected - raised its economic growth forecasts for this year. 

It now expects the UK economy to grow 2% rather than 1.4%, the Chancellor says. 

In 2018 growth is forecast to slow to 1.6%, before picking up to 1.7%, then 1.9%, and back to 2% in 2021, he adds.  

Andrew Neil presenter of Daily Politics writes.

Office of National Statistics tweets.

The Chancellor says that almost 10 years since the financial crash "too many families are still feeling the squeeze".

"Too many of our young people are leaving formal education without the skills they need for today’s labour market," he says.

"So our job is not done."  

There is no room for complacency warns the Chancellor.

He tells MPs that while the deficit is down, debt is still too high and productivity remains "stubbornly low".

Young people are leaving education without the skills they need, he says. 

The budget provides a strong stable platform for Brexit negotiations begins Chancellor Philip Hammond.

It will, he says, "extend opportunity to all our young people, deliver further investment in our public services and continue the task of getting Britain back to living within its means."

This is the last Spring Budget - with Chancellor Philip Hammond moving the set-piece event to the Autumn from this year onwards. 

He points out that 24 years ago, former chancellor Norman Lamont made the same move. 

"The then Prime Minister described it as the 'right budget, at the right time, from the right Chancellor'," Mr Hammond says. 

"What they failed to remind me was…ten weeks later, he was sacked! So wish me luck!"

We're underway. Philip Hammond is delivering his first Budget as Chancellor.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Victoria Atkins points out that on International Women's Day it's 2-0 to the Conservative party, in terms of female prime ministers.

To laughter, Theresa May says she's grateful to her colleague for pointing it out. She says the Labour party talk about promoting women, while it is the Tories who have had two women PMs.

The Prime Minister explains a bit more about the £5m fund she announced earlier to help parents return to work. 

It's open to men and women, but the majority of those who take time out of a career are mothers, Theresa May tells MPs. 

"Getting back into a career is often difficult," she says, so it's "right and fair" to women that we provide returnships - schemes to help them return to their careers or new ones.