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Conservative MP James Cleverly admits it has been a tough period for the Tories, but the party has "made a balanced set of choices". He adds that Labour's £50bn spending pledges would "break the economy again."

Ahead of the Budget kicking off, Labour's shadow Economic Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, says the Conservatives "haven't listened to evidence" on social welfare reforms and that Britain is experiencing its worst period of economic growth since the end of the Second World War.

The chancellor has a number of competing challenges.

Some of them are economic - can he really "end austerity" by spending more and at the same time keep his promise to control the government's £1.8tn debts?

Some of them are political - don't forget the government does not have a majority and pushing any big tax rises, for example, through Parliament would be very difficult. Mr Hammond is also being lent on to be "more positive" on the economy by his next door neighbour at Number 10, Theresa May.

Read more from Kamal here.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg tweets:

Philip Hammond is expected to announce a £1.5bn stimulus package for the UK's troubled high streets in his Budget this afternoon.

Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, says cutting business rates will be welcome, but more needs to be done.

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For one week only the US east coast is only four hours behind the UK - that's because their clocks don't go back until the weekend.

That means Wall Street is now open and the three main indexes have bounced back from a steep sell-off last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130 points, or 0.5%, the S&P 500 added 24 points, or 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite surged 105 points, or 1.5% at the opening bell.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Austerity isn't quite over yet, according to Rupert Harrison, former chief of staff to George Osborne.

He tells BBC Radio 4's The World at One Theresa May's declaration that "austerity is over" has now "raised expectations that cannot be met".

With uncertainty surrounding Brexit negotiations, "doubling down now is not right", he adds.

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London's FTSE 100 stock market index has soared almost 140 points, or 2%, this afternoon to 7,076 points, following European markets higher.

Milan is 2.4% higher after returns on Italian government bonds fell sharply after a key ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, made no change to the country's investment rating. That helped push shares in Italian banks up.

The Dax in Frankfurt is up 2.1% on relief that Angela Merkel plans to serve her full term as Chancellor.

Sterling, meanwhile, has slipped to $1.2830.

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The Chancellor is expected to announce a big cut to business rates today to help struggling high street retailers.

But Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, says short-term measures won't solve the sector's deep-seated problems.

“The old rates system still needs to be adjusted for a modern trading environment, otherwise when the stimulus ends the old issues will return. Our Red Flag Alert has shown that the number of retailers in financial distress has increased by 1% since last year to more than 30,000 businesses. This trend needs to stop."

She adds: "If the government can update the existing system it can unravel one of the barriers for retail and potentially stop the rot of businesses moving away from the high street, and the great British tradition of great British retail can recover.”

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In case you forgot, today is Budget day, with the Chancellor due to give his big speech at 15:30.

BBC personal finance correspondent Kevin Peachey has written a comprehensive guide about what to expect, from announcements on austerity and Brexit, to potential tax cuts and rises.

Read it here

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Betting firm Sport Index predicts the Chancellor will take six sips of water to get through his speech this afternoon.

"Hammond hasn't been known to reach for too many sips of water in previous speeches, but Theresa May's infamous coughing fit last year should see him take no chances," says their political spokesperson Ed Fulton.

Sporting Index also expects the speech to last 59 minutes and include four references to 'Brexit' and 33 mentions of 'billion'.

But are there any sure bets in this Budget?

Image source, eharmony

US online dating site eharmony has been snapped up by a German media company.

ProSieben bought the site for an undisclosed sum, saying it planned to merge it with its own Parship dating franchise, the market leader in Germany.

"We are bringing together two strong brands and will build them into one of the world's leading online dating businesses," ProSieben boss Max Conze said.

eharmony was founded by clinical psychologist Neil Clark Warren and uses an extensive online questionnaire to determine the compatibility of potential couples seeking long-term relationships.

Image source, Getty Images

Stocks may be rebounding but oil is on the ropes, as concerns about US sanctions on Iranian exports fail to prop up prices.

Brent Crude is trading at $77.50 a barrel, a fall of 0.2% on the day, and miles off highs of more than $85 in early October.

“It is often said that when stock markets sneeze, commodities catch a cold. This adage was on full display last week as a global rout on equity gauges dragged the energy complex lower,” PVM Oil Associates strategist Stephen Brennock said.

“Adding a further tailwind to the prevailing selling pressures are mounting concerns of a budding oversupply. Saudi Arabia and Russia are leading efforts to keep oil markets well supplied at the same time as the demand outlook darkens... The Iranian factor has been put on the back burner and bullish blood will continue to be spilled in the oil market.”

Victoria Derbyshire

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A former Conservative chancellor has said that governments can't spend what they like to "wash away what happened in the past".

Warning against a giveaway budget, Lord Lamont pointed out that the national debt is still up by £700bn since 2010.

Britain still needs to plug its budget deficit in order to avoid another recession, he said.

A friend of the chancellor says Theresa May has already spent £95bn of Philip Hammond's budget money.

The London market has surged higher this morning, led by a rally in banking stocks, although it is still hundreds of points below where it was at the start of October.

It's trading at 7,048.18 points, a gain of 1.6% since the start of the day.

Top of the board are industrial turnaround specialists Melrose, up 5.7%, followed by miner Evraz, which has climbed 5.3%.

HSBC is up 5.2% after publishing strong results, while Standard Chartered and RBS have gained 3.9% and 2.9% respectively.

Image source, AFP

Andrew Walker QC, Chair of the Bar Council, says more spending in this year's Budget must be put towards the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and especially legal aid.

"The Department for Work and Pensions spends in less than three weeks what the MoJ spends in a year," Mr. Walker said in a statement by the Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales.

"Surely justice deserves so much better than this?”

Spending on legal aid has shrunk by more than £1bn over the past five years. And according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the MoJ will have had a 30% budget cut in real terms between 2010–11 and 2019–20.

Kamal Ahmed picks out a nice line from fellow BBC Editor, Laura Kuenssberg's pre-budget preview.