tweets:, external Ed Balls rightly says we're in for more cuts to defence, police etc. What he didn't add was "Labour would do it too". #Budget2015

Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor

On the impact of yesterday's Budget, our assistant political editor tells Today: "I don't think it's actually changed the political fundamentals."

"The arguments you will hear from politicians this morning are exactly the same arguments as you would have heard from them yesterday, indeed the arguments we have been hearing for the past two years; namely Labour saying we are facing extreme spending cuts and the Tories saying you'd go back to economic chaos and ruin if Labour were in charge of the economy. That basic argument has not changed.

"The Conservatives are basically going to stick to their core election strategy, which is trying to grind out results through this focus on the economic fundamentals.

"But I do think there has been a shift in the economic terrain in this sense: what we got from the chancellor yesterday was a significant easing off in austerity by his decision to abandon his previous plan to secure a budget surplus at the end of the next Parliament by £23bn. That is now gone.

"What that does mean is yes, there will be steep spending cuts, but they are not quite on the huge scale that he had previously set out. We are not now going back to the 1930s, we are going back to the 1960s.

"It is a different scale of austerity. And that I think actually narrows the economic divide between the two parties."

BBC Breakfast

Danny Alexander says the country faces a "big question" over the next five years.

"We think asking the richest people to contribute a bit more…rather than putting pressure on our public services" is better, he says.

The Conservatives are going in a more extreme direction and want to reduce the size of the State, he adds.

And he says his Budget later today will highlight the differences between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats that may not have been obvious on Wednesday.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Ed Balls is asked about specifics of yesterday's budget. He praises some of George Osborne's plans for savers, including £1,000 tax-free income savings. He says nothing in yesterday's Budget would be reversed by his party, claiming there wasn't much in the plans anyway .

BBC Breakfast

Chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has made it to the Westminster studio to talk to Breakfast. He tells the programme he will announce a "different and better way to finish the job" of clearing the deficit. "In a sense I'm setting out a plan that borrows less than Labour [and] that cuts less than the Conservatives," he says.

BBC Radio 4 Today

I think people will see George Osborne's plans as "pretty scary", Ed Balls says.

He says the Labour plan is steadier and more balanced. His party will cut debt and get a budget surplus, but in a different way. Instead of just spending cuts, Labour will save money in some areas, but will also make tough decisions on taking some benefits away, put the top rate of income tax up and deal with insecure employment and zero hours contracts.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Ed Balls says for all George Osborne's boasts yesterday, people are worse off than they were when he came into power. The chancellor's plans for the next Parliament would see more severe cuts over the next three years than we have seen in the last five, he adds.

Even on the best figures for the government, people are worse off. Even that one is dodgy he says.

BBC Radio 4 Today

In the end, are the Lib Dems more likely to be in coalition with Labour than the Tories? Danny Alexander says his plans differ from Labour's. He says Labour doesn't have a commitment to deal with the structural deficit by 2017. Instead, they want "slow, painful austerity" over the course of the next Parliament, the chief secretary to the treasury adds.

BBC Breakfast

On the new tax evasion laws being announced later today, George Osborne says: "We will be creating a new strict liability law... You can't help someone evade tax. If you're helping someone evade tax you're going to face some very hefty fines."

He adds: "The richest in our society need to continue to make their contribution."

BBC Breakfast

George Osborne says the government also knows it needs to tackle tax avoidance and evasion. And he says the government will take a balanced approached to spending cuts. "Yes we need to make savings to the costs of government. We also need to tackle tax evasion and avoidance," he says.

"By doing that we can reduce the cuts we would have to make to public services. I'm the fist to say the job isn't done," he adds.

BBC Radio 4 Today

"I have been in the face of Labour opposition every step of the way for the measures I have taken to make sure the country lives within its means," Danny Alexander tells Today.

He tells the programme he can't recall inheritance tax being raised by the Conservatives during negotiations over the Budget.

That follows reports the Lib Dems blocked attempts to allow some parents to leave homes worth up to £1m to their children without paying inheritance tax.

Is it going to be a roller coaster over the next Parliament? Mr Alexander is asked. He says yes if we stick to the numbers outlined by George Osborne yesterday. But the Lib Dems will offer a different plan, he says, which he is due to set out later today.

BBC Breakfast

George Osborne is talking about his Budget on BBC Breakfast. He says the economy is in a "fundamentally stronger position" than it was five years ago.

He says: "We have got jobs being created, unemployment falling fast, living standards are now rising and as I said Britain is now walking tall and we have to go on working through the plan that is delivering that."

But, he says, no short term giveaway is better than the economic security of a long-term recovering national economy.

He adds public services can't work in the way they should if the UK doesn't have a strong economy. He says: "We all know if the economy fails the public services fail because they don't have the money going into them."

And here's the chancellor being confronted with this morning's Sun, which features him a let's say 'interesting' pose.

tweets, external: I almost spilt my coffee when I saw front page at Sun Chancellor tells @bbcbreakfast's Steph

BBC Breakfast

BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins is ready for the chancellor's appearance on Breakfast from a construction site in Essex

Image source, The Sun

So.... if you were wondering what Ed Balls was talking about when confronted with the Sun's front page. Well here you go.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Image source, EPA

Danny Alexander, George Osborne's right hand man at the Treasury, tells Today we can deal with the deficit in a "fair way" by allowing a substantial proportion of the burden to come through tax. There is a big different between the Tories and the Lib Dems, his party, on how to deal with the problem, he says.

Mr Balls adds: "The other thing he [George Osborne] said in the Budget was that the spending cuts for the police, for defence, for our public services are going to be deeper in the next three years than in the last five [years]. And I think for most people that's quite a chilling prospect.

He added: "The cuts for our public services... what that will mean in the end for our National Health Service. Will we have a Tory chancellor putting up VAT after the election? That will make the living standards squeeze worse. I think it was a bit of a flop to be honest."

Image source, Good Morning Britain

Ed Balls has already begun doing the rounds, reacting to Wednesday's Budget. The first thing he does is admit to a certain amount of shock at the Sun's front page - we'll try and bring that to you later.

The shadow chancellor tells Good Morning Britain George Osborne's optimistic tone in his Budget "doesn't really fit" with most people lives. "People are worse off. They are still struggling, bills are going up faster," Mr Balls says. "Nothing really changed in the Budget."

If you're still struggling to get your head around the Budget, we've produced a handy at-a-glance guide. We'll also post some links to the best analysis in the newspapers as the morning progresses.

You can have a look at what the Budget is likely to mean for you using our handy calculator.