BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed responds to New Financial think tank founder William Wright:

The gender pay gap at the Bank of England is 24.2%, says BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed.

The outlook for the UK economy is one of the worst in living memory - four charts help explain why.

If the economy is a cruise liner then the chancellor made the cabins more affordable for some passengers on Wednesday.

Theresa May has said the abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers of properties below £300,000 will help younger people.

"We want to ensure that the young generation, that today perhaps worries about never getting their foot on the housing ladder, will have that extra bit of help to do so, but we also need to build the homes the country needs, and we want to see 300,000 additional homes being built every year.

"That would be the highest rate of additional home-building since 1970," she said.

The prime minister added that Chancellor Philip Hammond did "a very good job" in the Budget yesterday.

Over the past decade there has been no growth at all in public spending per person, says Torsten Bell of the Resolution Foundation.

"We haven't seen that at all in living memory," he says.

The "grim economic picture" is affecting all families, but the tax and benefit policies of the government are disproportionately hitting those already on lower incomes, says Torsten Bell of the Resolution Foundation.

"We're seeing benefits cut, taking over £700 away, on average, from the bottom third of households, and we're seeing seeing taxes cut, giving money, much less money, but giving some money to the top third of households."

When you dig into the Budget to look at what it means for family finances, it's a "pretty grim picture", says Torsten Bell of the Resolution Foundation, a think tank that focuses on inequality issues.

"Pay is expected to be nearly £1,000 a year less than the Office of Budget Responsibility previously thought, and family's incomes are being projected to have a prolonged stagnation over the next few years, actually for a longer period than the stagnation we saw immediately after the financial crisis. It's not as deep, but it's longer."

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The pound hit a six-week high against a weaker dollar in early trading, as traders largely brushed off a sharp cut in economic growth forecasts in the Budget.

Sterling has since eased back a bit, but is still trading above $1.33 against the dollar.

Mike Amey, managing director of investment fund Pimco, said there wasn't much in the Budget which surprised the financial markets.

On the stock markets, the UK's FTSE 100 index is flat at 7,418 points.

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As we reported earlier, UK families are facing the longest squeeze on living standards in more than 60 years.

The post-Budget analysis by the Resolution Foundation also warns that poorer families are likely to be hardest hit.

It suggests that the poorest third of households are set to be more than £700 a year worse off, while tax and benefit policies will hand more than £180 to the richest third.

The Resolution Foundation is a not-for-profit group which focuses on income inequality.

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The chancellor's decision not to target van drivers with a new diesel tax is a "lost opportunity", according to a senior academic.

Philip Hammond said "no white van man or white van woman will be hit" by levies to create a new clean air fund. Road tax for new diesel cars not meeting latest standards is to rise in April.

Giving evidence to MPs about air quality, Professor Stephen Holgate from Southampton University criticised the emissions from vans delivering internet shopping and other goods.

Why don't we have electric white vans? he asked.

Victoria Derbyshire

The Budget has scrapped stamp duty for first-time buyers on properties up to £300,000.

The change will save buyers up to £5,000, but the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast it could lead to a small rise in house prices.

Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng, an aide to the chancellor, says the predicted increase in prices will still be less than what buyers will save.

But Labour MP Alison McGovern counters: "The OBR says first-time buyers will not see the benefit. That's the end of it as far as I'm concerned."

Will tax changes in the Budget leave you better or worse off next year?

We've put together a handy calculator to work it out for you.

Just put in your consumption of cigarettes, alcohol and fuel, as well as your salary, and it'll give you an idea of how you'll be affected.

This chart shows the bleak outlook for economic growth which was forecasted in yesterday's Budget - and which the chancellor today said he hopes to prove wrong.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) sharply downgraded UK growth for 2017, from 2% to 1.5%.

It also predicted the economy would grow by much less than 2% in the next five years, largely because the UK is less productive than the OBR originally thought.

Figures out this morning confirmed the UK economy grew by 0.4% in the third quarter, leaving the UK lagging behind other major economies.

It comes after the Budget downgraded UK growth for the full year to 1.5%, down from 2%.

Financial Times' chief political correspondent Jim Pickard highlights that many are unphased by the Treasury probably selling its RBS shares at nearly a £20bn loss.

Guardian political editor Heather Stewart adds:

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Economic forecasts put the chancellor under pressure but Tory MPs back him on stamp duty and Brexit.

Read more here.

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Away from the Budget, here's a quick update from the markets in Asia. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.93% to close at 29,723 on Thursday, after hitting the 30,000 mark for the first time in a decade in the previous session.

China's mainland indexes also slipped, while South Korea's Kospi index also weakened, as the won hovered around its highest level in two and a half years.

Australia's ASX was almost unchanged, while Japan's Nikkei was the region's sole winner, gaining 0.48% to close at 22,523.15.