Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been delivering his Spring Statement as the costs of fuel, energy and food soar
Sunak says 70% of workers will get an effective tax cut as he raises the threshold for paying National Insurance (NI) by £3,000
He also announces a 5p cut to fuel duty to come into force at 18:00 tonight
And he announces that the basic rate of income tax will go from 20% to 19% by the end of Parliament in 2024
The Office for Budget Responsibility says inflation and higher taxes from April mean households face the biggest fall in living standards since records began
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves says Sunak should have scrapped the planned rise to NI and put a windfall tax on oil and gas companies
The chancellor's challenge has been laid bare as prices rose by 6.2% in the 12 months to February - the fastest for 30 years
That's the end of our live coverage of the Spring Statement, though you can find further reaction and analysis on the BBC website.
The live page writers today were Jennifer Scott, Paul Seddon, Jennifer Meierhans, Ben King and Marie Jackson.
The page was edited by Alex Therrien and Georgina Pattinson.
Image source, ReutersChancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled his Spring Statement as the costs of fuel, energy and food soar
We'll soon be bringing our live coverage of the Spring Statement to a close. But before we do, here's a recap of what happened today. Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled his Spring Statement in Parliament amid a backdrop of soaring fuel, energy and food prices.
The measures in the Spring Statement will not stop eateries from having to pass on higher costs to customers, who are already leaving bad reviews over meal prices, a restaurant boss says.
Suleman Raza, boss of the Spice Village restaurant group, tells BBC News that it was "very likely" that customers would see further price rises when they go out for dinner.
"The customers are already not happy. Some of the prices have already increased because we were not able to absorb this inflation and we are getting a lot of bad reviews on Google and other social media platforms where people are not happy about this price increase.
"We attract everyday, normal customers and they can't afford these prices so this mini budget is definitely not for ordinary people."
He also says the fuel duty reduction of 5p a litre is "not going to make a massive difference" to food suppliers.
Kevin Peachey
Personal finance correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesThe most high-profile energy supplier to collapse during the last year is Bulb, which has 1.6 million customers.
It was put into special administration in November after facing rising wholesale costs it was unable to pass on to customers. In effect it was rescued and quasi-nationalised by the government.
Office for Budget Responsibility documents published today reveal that decision has cost the government £1.2bn so far, with expectations of a further £1bn bill in the next financial year.
Even then, the volatility of global energy markets means the OBR has said: "There remains uncertainty around the final cost."
Rishi Sunak said the UK was facing the same challenges as many countries around the world
Sunak is also asked how he felt when he saw analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility saying UK households are set to see the biggest drop in their spending power in 2022-23 since records began in 1956,
The chancellor doesn't answer directly.
Instead he says the UK is facing the same challenges as many countries around the world, with rising prices and high inflation.
He repeats that he cannot protect everyone from the full impact, but says: "Where we can make a difference of course we will and that is why the policies announced today are a significant intervention.
"We are on people's side at this difficult time."
The chancellor filled up a customer's car after his Spring Statement
After his appearance in Parliament, Rishi Sunak headed off to south London to talk to the public - and reporters - at a Sainsbury's petrol station.
He was pictured filling up the tank of one of the customers, and appeared to even pay for the fuel, as well as a can of drink and a chocolate bar for good measure.
But back to the matter of today's announcements, the chancellor said there were "uncertain times ahead".
He adds: "I can't protect everyone from all the global challenges we face, [but] the policies announced today will put billions of pounds back into the pockets of hard-working families."
Asked why there wasn't more help for people on welfare, Sunak says the government has already helped by changing the taper rate for universal credit - brought in after the £20 uplift was removed - and today the Treasury is providing more money to councils to support them.
"But the best way to help people in welfare over time is to support them to get into work and that is what we are doing," he adds.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay attacks the chancellor for failing to mention climate
The Green Party has responded to the chancellor's Spring Statement, saying he has focused on "the interests of fossil fuel companies and his party’s backbenchers, while ignoring the plight of millions on lower incomes".
The party's co-leader Adrian Ramsay says it is "negligence in the extreme to have offered so little to help those struggling through this cost of living crisis".
And he attacks Rishi Sunak for failing to mention climate once.
The party did welcome the VAT cut on energy efficiency measures, such as solar panels and heat pumps.
But Ramsay says the promise of a future tax cut "shows the chancellor is focused on winning the next general election, and not helping those on benefits and lower incomes who are in desperate need right now”.
Reality Check
In his Spring Statement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said it was “thanks to Brexit” that he could get rid of VAT on solar panels and heat pumps for the next five years.
He said homeowners would no longer need to pay 5% VAT on them.
After Brexit, the UK does have more freedom to set its VAT rates, but the EU is also planning to exempt these products from VAT.
On 2 March 2022, the EU Parliament approved plans to allow member states to exempt a number of products from VAT, including solar panels and green heating systems, as part of its new environmental policy.
The EU changes have not yet come into effect, while Sunak’s will start next month.
Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent
Image source, ReutersThe rise in National Insurance contributions was directly linked to increasing funding for the NHS and paying for England’s cap on social care costs.
So naturally one question being asked is how the decision to increase the threshold at which National Insurance is paid affects that? In the short-term, it doesn’t.
The health budget in England is set until 2025 and nothing in today’s statement suggests the government will revisit that.
The same is true for the care cap – although the overall budget for the care system has not been set.
In the longer term, some are warning this will lead to less money than expected being available for public services more generally.
And the rising cost of living has a wider societal impact on health - by pushing more people into poverty, which is one of the key drivers of poor health.
This, in turn, will increase demands on health and care, NHS leaders are warning.
Image source, PA MediaThe Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, has welcomed a further £500m for councils, announced by the chancellor in his Spring Statement, to provide targeted welfare support to low-income households.
Councillor Shaun Davies, from LGA, said councils would need maximum flexibility and quick details on allocations to make sure funding reaches those in need and can help to prevent families from reaching crisis point in the first place.
He said the increase in funding through the Household Support Fund - essentially council grants aimed at helping the most vulnerable pay for food, clothing and bills - was a positive step but could not address underlying cost of living pressures on its own, nor help people make the most of their money and strengthen financial resistance.
"With many households likely to be economically vulnerable for some time to come, councils also want to work with government on an effective long-term solution to preventing poverty and disadvantage that moves away from providing crisis support towards improving life chances," he added.
Dharshini David
Economics Correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesBy 2027 the highest will be at the highest level since the late 1940s - when Sir Stafford Cripps was chancellor
Despite today’s tax concessions, the fine print of Rishi Sunak’s plans suggest he’s a way off being the lower-tax chancellor he ultimately wants to be.
By 2027, 36.3% of the nation's income is set to be siphoned off to the tax man, the biggest tax burden since the late 1940s.
The concessions he’s unveiled today only offset a sixth of the tax rises introduced since 2020.
Some of the increased tax burden is understandable - hundreds of billions of public money was spent on pandemic support packages which successfully protected the vast majority of livelihoods.
But bringing it down will be harder given the pressures on the public purse: By 2027, the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government's economic watchdog, reckons public spending will have “settled” at 41.1% of national income, which is 2.1% higher than pre-pandemic 2019-20 levels, and the highest sustained level since the late 1970s.
Earlier today shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves accused the chancellor of not understanding the scale of the challenge.
"His choices are making the cost of living crisis worse - not better," she told MPs, speaking after Rishi Sunak had delivered his Spring Statement.
Watch the video above.
Image source, PA MediaGreenpeace UK praises the announcement by the chancellor that the government will cut VAT on energy-saving items, like insulation, heat pumps and solar panels.
Policy Director Dr Doug Parr says it is a "welcome start to ending that huge waste of energy, helping keep bills down and cut our gas use".
But he says it can only be the start.
"We need to see around £10bn of support, part raised by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, for delivering the help families need to install the clean technologies that will get us off gas," he adds.
Kevin Peachey
Personal finance correspondent
Image source, PA MediaFirst-time buyers may wonder how they can afford to save for a deposit when their spending power is falling.
Predictions from the Office for Budget Responsibility show that the average proportion of income which is saved is going to fall. Last year, owing in part to the pandemic, individuals typically saved more than 10% of their income. Next year it will be 3.1%.
However, the silver lining for young buyers is that the runaway house price rises of recent years will slow, according to the OBR.
The forecaster says the average UK house price will go up by 7.4% this year, then 1.3% next year, before accelerating again to 1.5%, 2.5% and 3.1% in subsequent years.
Image source, PA MediaUnite general secretary Sharon Graham has criticised the chancellor for "tinkering around the edges" of the cost-of-living crisis, saying he had done nothing to tackle the corporate elite.
"Workers will still be facing sleepless nights worrying about how to make ends meet, overwhelmed by rocketing prices," she said.
"Once again, ordinary working people bear the broadest burden while the super-rich get off scot-free."
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, called on the government to reverse the real terms cuts to teacher pay if they want to protect living standards and building a strong economy.
And TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said families did not get the urgent help with soaring bills they needed, and said the National Insurance threshold rise would mostly benefit the better-off.
"The small print shows that pay packets are now expected to fall in value by £11 a week this year," she added.
Manuel Cortes, Transport Salaried Staffs' Association general secretary, said the statement was a missed opportunity. "This government is fuelling - quite literally - a car-led recovery instead of promoting climate-friendly solutions such as public transport."
More from financial journalist Martin Lewis who says the measures announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak are "not going to lift that many people out of the mire".
He describes the National Insurance threshold rise as a squirrel rather than the rabbit out of the hat he was hoping for.
He tells Radio 5 Live: "The cost of living crisis is still going to be a substantial net loss in people's real income over the next year and what has happened today will not cover that for people on lower or higher incomes but it will mitigate some of the impact.
"There will still be many people who will be struggling and having to choose between freezing and starving but there will be fewer.
"And there will be clearly be people who are going to have to curtail their lifestyles due to the cost of living... and some of them won't have to curtail it quite as much."
Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics
Image source, Getty ImagesThe National Insurance threshold change means people earning up to about £34,000 a year will be better off.
The chancellor has moved the point at which people start paying National Insurance from just over £9,500 last year to just over £12,500 from July.
But once you start paying National Insurance, the rate will be higher than it was last year (13.25% instead of 12%).
How does that net out? Putting both changes together, you’ll be paying less National Insurance this year if you earn less than £34,000.
Nearly 70% of employees earn less than that, so most people will be see a smaller employee’s National Insurance bill in their payslip this year.
Someone earning £20,000 will pay about £180 less National Insurance this year than last year, while someone earning £50,000 will be paying about £200 more.
Image source, Getty ImagesMel Stride chairs the Treasury Select Committee of MPS
The chair of the MPs' Treasury Committee praises some of the "helpful measures" brought forward by Rishi Sunak to "alleviate cost of living pressures faced by low-income households".
But the chancellor will be facing more questions from the MP and his colleagues.
In a statement after the chancellor's speech, the Tory MP says: "The Treasury Committee will be particularly interested in establishing whether the balance struck between support measures introduced now, and planned tax cuts later, is the right one.
"We will also wish to assess whether the amount of fiscal headroom that the Chancellor has maintained is appropriate, given the many risks present in the OBR’s forecast, and the pressing need to provide cost of living support now.”
Faisal Islam
BBC Economics Editor
There are some interesting measures that have been announced by the chancellor today.
But the figure that courses through all of this is that very high inflation.
It affects everything - how much borrowing there is, the debt interest payments too - and the prediction of it reaching 9% by the end of the year is pretty extraordinary.
Rishi Sunak has kept the National Insurance rise to pay for the NHS and social care - starting next month.
But he announced today that in July, after three months, half of that gets given back mainly to lower earners in the form of a higher National Insurance threshold.
Then the rest of it goes back via a tax cut, but only if the conditions are met in his tax plan in a couple of years time.
Overall, it means he hasn't had to reverse the National Insurance rise he had already announced and he continues to go big on being a "tax cutting chancellor".
But if you look at the OBR's documentas, he has only cut back about one sixth of all the taxes that have been raised since he came into No 11.
You still have corporation tax going up, you still have NI going up in people's pay packets this April, and you still have council tax going up.
BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme
The leader of the Liberal Democrats says the Spring Statement has been a "total swindle" by Rishi Sunak, "giving with one hand and taking with another".
Sir Ed Davey tells BBC's Politics Live: "We are facing a cost of living crisis which is the worst for over 50 years, according to the OBR, [with] inflation already at the highest for 40 years.
"People are drowning with those higher energy bills, those higher food costs, those higher fuel bills. They needed a life boat and the chancellor has utterly failed them."
He said the Lib Dems would have provided a much bigger one-off cut in VAT, costing the Treasury £18bn, but giving household £600 to "help reflate the economy".
Sir Ed adds: "That's the sort of bold measure we needed."