The Spectator

"If there's one major takeaway from this morning's Budget interviews", writes Isabel Hardman Writes on the Spectator website, external, "it is that voters won't get the opportunity to make as informed a choice as many would like in May".

She says George Osborne refused to set out the detail of the £12bn of welfare cuts he will make in the next Parliament and gave a classic politicians answer on defence spending.

She adds Ed Balls wasn't much better, telling the Today programme he wouldn't reverse anything from the Budget.

"We didn't learn a great deal about either of the main parties yesterday, and we may not learn much more in what looks to be a rather repetitive election campaign," she says.

BBC News School Report

Image source, BBC School Report

How do politicians fare when their interviewers are teenagers and secondary school pupils? Over at BBC News School Report - where more than 1,000 schools are taking part in the annual News Day - senior politicians have faced a grilling from pupils around the UK.

tweets:, external Cons David Gauke suggests Tories won't say where 9/10bn welfare cuts over 2 years will come until AFTER the election

BBC News School Report

Image source, Conservatives

Over at the BBC's School Report, the political parties have made one-minute party political broadcasts aimed at 11 to 16-year-olds. Grant Shapps, chairman of the Conservative Party, appeared for them. For Labour it was Lucy Powell MP and for the Greens - MP Caroline Lucas.

Leanne Wood, the leader of the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, fronted her party's video. The Liberal Democrats chose a social media interview with a young election candidate, Kavya Kaushik, while the SNP's video featured images of children and teenagers with a voiceover by a young-sounding Scot.

The World at One BBC Radio 4

"It's worth saying that while Mr Osborne has cut welfare spending relative to what it would have been under Labour it remains at the same level as it did in 2010," the IFS's Paul Johnson tells the programme. He adds that we don't know much about what Labour would do but under their plans they could make "little if any" cuts to spending.

The World at One BBC Radio 4

Paul Johnson, IFS director, says what was new about the chancellor's Budget on Wednesday was "an apparent change in political philosophy". He says it now looks as if George Osborne plans to cut spending in the short term - nothing new there - but then increase spending towards the end of the next parliament. As a result, the original surplus of £23bn forecast during the Autumn Statement will be reduced to £7bn. What the chancellor hasn't spelt out is how he will get extra money from cracking down on tax avoidance and welfare spending however Mr Johnson adds.

The World at One BBC Radio 4

The government has so far identified around £2bn of spending cuts from the £12bn it wants to cut in the first three year's of the next parliament. "But we know nothing about where the rest of the cuts are going to come from," Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson says.

Daily and Sunday Politics

Image source, (C) British Broadcasting Corporation

Many watched George Osborne deliver his Budget on Wednesday, but how many understood every last word? With help from author John Lanchester, Daily Politics reporter Adam Fleming looks at debt and deficit, and just what are diverted profits tax or deeds of variation? Watch the film

In Scotland, a member of the Scottish National Party has been suspended over allegations they subjected Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson to homophobic abuse on Twitter. A number of politicians have condemned the abuse. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the abuse was "unacceptable". More here.

"Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party believe that we need £30bn worth of adjustments over a two year period in order to deliver a current budget surplus," says David Gauke. "Where we disagree is the nature of the £30bn." There are differences, he says, but at least the Lib Dems are answering the question and addressing the issue. Labour are not, he claims.

Ian Swales, the Lib Dem MP, says today's Commons statement from Danny Alexander was not the Budget, it was "another view of the future forecasts". He says it was "really important" that MPs heard about alternative views. "It may have looked a bit bizarre," he admits, but we are in new territory.

So what do the Lib Dems disagree with? Mr Swales says the Budget happens every year and they have agreed to this year's. The £12bn welfare cut figure is too much - they have identified £3.5bn of welfare cuts they would like to make.

Chris Leslie accuses him of wanting to have his cake and eat it. He says it starts to look a bit "two-faced".

Daily and Sunday Politics

David Gauke says the Conservatives will spell out how £12bn of cuts to welfare will be implemented in a spending review after the election.

Daily and Sunday Politics

"If you've got a strong economy and sustainable public finances, you can afford to properly finance public services, but we need to be in the position to do that," David Gauke adds.

Daily and Sunday Politics

Chris Leslie, the shadow chief secretary to the treasury, says Labour will table amendments to the Budget if needs be (Ed Balls said earlier the party would not reverse anything announced yesterday). There were some good things in the Budget, Leslie says, but the main issue is the fate of the economy. That is the big choice at the election, he says.

Daily and Sunday Politics

Treasury minister David Gauke says the UK still needs to bring the budget deficit down and needs to make £30bn of adjustments. Asked why not just do it gradually, rather than cutting in the first part then spending in the latter part of the Parliament, he says the increase will come when the economy is in a "good place" and the country can afford to spend.

Daily and Sunday Politics

A number of Tory MPs were privately disappointed by the lack of big announcement in yesterday's Budget, Tom Newton Dunn says.

Daily and Sunday Politics

Tom Newton Dunn, the Sun's political editor, says he will be surprised if the Tories don't get some bounce in the polls after the Budget. However, he doesn't think it will mean more than a "two or three point week-long blip". There was nothing "game changing" in the Budget at first look, he adds.

Daily and Sunday Politics

Stephanie Flanders, the BBC's former economics editor and now economist at JP Morgan, says the UK looks "pretty good" from a growth perspective. On borrowing, she says nothing has changed to mean George Osborne had to remove an extra year of austerity in his Budget. She says there is no external reason, but Andrew Neil points out there is a political one.

Tim Montgomerie, writing for The Times, external, takes look at Lynton Crosby's influence on the Budget and the Conservative message ahead of the election. It is the Australian who believes the party needs to portray the election as a choice on the economy: "It was broken five years ago by the other lot and it's OK again now under us." But Mr Montgomerie isn't impressed: "Crosby's political recipe might be enough to beat Ed Miliband. It's not enough to build a Conservative Party that deserves to win elections or to stop the decline of faith in our political system."

Chris Mason
Political correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Facebook

This afternoon, our political correspondent Chris Mason will be answering some of your questions on the Budget. You can send Chris your queries - and let him know what you thought of the measures announced by George Osborne - on Facebook, external.