BBC Breakfast

Chancellor Philip Hammond abolished stamp duty for first-time buyers buying a home of up to £300,000 in the Budget.

He tells BBC Breakfast: "The average first-time buyer price is below £300,000."

The policy is "a very helpful additional incentive for people who are saving up to buy a property.

"When you buy your first home you need to accumulate quite a bit of cash to pay for the deposit, to pay for the stamp duty, to pay for the legal fees, and hopefully, by abolishing stamp duty, which will save the average first time buyer about £1,700.

"That will be a help and an incentive to focus on getting the deposit together, getting the money together to get on the housing ladder. And we hope that many more young people will be able to get on the housing ladder."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Will the scrapping of stamp duty for many first-time buyers drive up house prices?

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) thinks it will - saying that prices could rise by 0.3%, and estimating that only 3,500 new first-time buyers will be attracted by the change.

Professor David Miles, a former Bank of England official who is now at Imperial College Business School, says prices could go up, although he thinks the OBR is being "moderately pessimistic".

The boss of one of the UK's biggest housebuilders is more optimistic.

Peter Truscott, the chief executive of Galliford Try, says he doesn't think prices will necessarily rise, but that more people are likely to buy.

BBC Breakfast

The government yesterday "delivered... a package for Britain" says Chancellor Philip Hammond.

"It's a package for families who are feeling the pressure on household budgets, with big pay rises for people on minimum wage and National Living Wage, big increases on the amount you can earn before you start paying income tax, more money for the National Health Service, and of course the cut in stamp duty and a big package to get house-building moving again," he says.

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British Gas owner Centrica says the performance of its business energy businesses has been "disappointing" since the middle of the year, but that it remains on track to hit 2017 targets.

Iain Conn, Centrica group chief executive, says: "Although some aspects of our delivery in the second half of 2017 have been disappointing, I remain encouraged by our progress in implementing our strategy."

Today Programme
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Liz Martins, UK economist at HSBC, says the Budget speech was "all about the giveaways".

"They might not have been big, spectacular giveaways, but you didn't hear much about revenue raising measures," she tells Today.

"Given that he was presented with those very sad set of forecasts on growth and productivity, you might have expected in other circumstances to see more revenue raising measures to make up for that."

The headline-grabbing measures included an abolition of stamp duty for many first-time buyers and extra funding for NHS England.

BBC Radio 5 live

The Chancellor in the Budget has "a laser-like focus" on boosting productivity, says Rain Newton-Smith of the CBI.

"What we have seen in this Budget, though, is I think the Chancellor has absolutely got a laser-like focus on boosting our productivity over the long term, on trying to give businesses the confidence to invest now, and really looking at what are some of the reasons that have been holding back our economy.

"Why is it difficult for people to live in areas where jobs are being created? And he's had a real focus on housing, on transport infrastructure, and also around innovation. So I think there is a scenario where, if these measures work, if we look towards the future... then we could see these forecasts proved wrong."

Today Programme
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There was a lot of talk in the Budget about the UK's low levels of productivity, and how that is weighing on economic growth. But what does "productivity" mean?

It doesn't mean that UK employees work less hard than the French or Dutch, says Today business presenter Dominic O'Connell.

It's an "economic abstract", which shows the UK produces less economic output per hour than our big trading rivals.

That hits the profits and dividends made by our companies, and the wages we earn, he adds.

BBC Radio 5 live

The Office of Budget responsibility said yesterday that growth will continue to shrink to 2020, and only get back up to 1.5% by 2022.

CBI economist Rain Newton-Smith says on Wake Up to Money: "We have to recognise that this is a sombre economic backdrop. It's almost unprecedented... At the same time the global economy is actually doing well, we're seeing a strong recovery there."

BBC Radio 5 live

So what is behind low productivity? There are a few issues, says Mike Amey of Pimco.

"One is which companies have invested and which have not," he says.

"There is the issue of whether you are willing to make that investment, or whether you want to just try and hire a few more people to try and get you a little bit more output rather than go for the big, building the next factory or whatever.

"And then there's the issue of financing. We've been through a multi-year period where financing has been hard to come by."

BBC Radio 5 live

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Yesterday growth forecasts for the UK economy were cut sharply following changes to estimates of productivity and business investment.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now expects the economy to grow by 1.5% this year, down from the estimate of 2% it made in March.

On Wake Up to Money, Mike Amey of Pimco says: "Productivity is the issue. If people can't make more stuff per hour then you can't pay them more, that's the basic problem, and there wasn't actually a lot in the Budget on that."

We'll be bringing you more Budget analysis this morning.

Also, there will be a trading update from British Gas owner Centrica. Npower and SSE recently announced plans to merge, meaning the so-called “big six” energy suppliers could shrink to five.

If the deal gets regulatory approval, about half of the market will belong to two companies: the new firm and British Gas.

We'll also have a second estimate on third quarter GDP this morning.