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The chancellor announced a raft of new measures. Here are some of the headline changes that could affect you:

Coronavirus support

• Furlough to be extended until the end of September
• Employers to be asked to contribute 10% in July and 20% in August and September
• £20 uplift in Universal Credit to be extended for another six months

Taxation

• No changes to rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT
• Personal income tax allowance to be frozen at £12,570 from 2022 to 2026
• Higher rate income tax threshold to be frozen at £50,270 from 2022 to 2026
• Corporation tax on company profits to rise from 19% to 25% in April 2023
• Rate to be kept at 19% for about 1.5 million smaller companies

See our comprehensive round-up here.

Emma Simpson
Business correspondent

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Asda is the first essential retailer out of the traps to say it won’t using the extended business rates holiday revealed in the Budget.

The supermarket chain's chief executive Roger Burnley, says: “There are clearly many industries and businesses that have been hard hit by the pandemic and we hope that by continuing to pay business rates in full this year we can continue to support the nation’s economic recovery from the pandemic.”

Some supermarkets - classed as essential retailers during the Covid lockdowns - were criticised last year for benefiting from the business rates holiday while paying dividends to shareholders.

Many paid back the sum to the government.

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer began his response with some personal as well as political criticism of Rishi Sunak.

Taking a dig at the chancellor's slick social media operation, the Labour leader said the Budget would look "better on Instagram" than in real life.

But the huge sums spent on the furlough scheme, universal credit increase and other economic support announced has robbed Sir Keir of a natural line of attack.

So he pushed a message we heard from him a key speech recently - that the Conservatives have not fixed the foundations of the economy and merely "papered over the cracks".

And Sir Keir doubled down on his criticism of the government's support for freelancers and the self-employed.

Labour has long argued that too many people have fallen through the cracks of the financial help provided by the government.

"Millions will be left out in the cold," Sir Keir said, despite the chancellor's announcement that hundreds of thousands more people would now be eligible.

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Sir Keir Starmer says the chancellor is "itching" to "pull away support as quickly as he can". One day people will "be able to take our masks off, and so will the chancellor", he adds.

The Labour leader accuses the Conservatives of weakening the economy in the past and having "no plan for the future".

That ends his response to the Budget.

Sir Keir Starmer says for the chancellor levelling up means moving the Treasury to Darlington, announcing a few freeports, and making reannouncements.

"It's not levelling up, it's giving up," he says.

He welcomes the extension of the furlough scheme but says "there is no excuse for holding the announcement back".

On corporation tax, he says it is right that it does not rise for the next few years adding that "in the long-run" the tax should go up.

And he condemns the government's "£2bn council tax rise".

Sir Keir Starmer says the Budget is a missed opportunity to "fix our social care system".

He says the extension of the £20-a-week uplift until September is not enough, adding that it should be longer.

The chancellor stopped "way short" of measures needed to protect the environment, the Labour leader argues.

And he says there should have been a "generation of genuinely affordable council housing" announced, while the government's mortgage guarantee will drive up home prices for first-time buyers.

Sir Keir regrets that the Budget does not contain plans "to fix the NHS and social care" and notes that the chancellor did not mention inequality.

He adds that the Rishi Sunak's decisions over the past year have led to a "deep economic damage".

However he also blames over a decade of Conservative government which has created an "economy built on insecurity".

He says today's Budget is not "a big transformative budget" but simply "papers over the cracks".

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After facing Boris Johnson at PMQs, Sir Keir Starmer is back at the despatch box, to give Labour's response to the Budget statement.

He begins by saying it is nice to be standing "opposite the person actually making decision in this government".

However he says it is those decisions that have "left us with the mess we find today" with "unemployment at 5%, debt at over £2tn".

"I'm sure this Budget will look better on Instagram," he says.

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

For all the hype this Budget, in the end, seemed remarkably business-like.

After most of the big announcements were trailed in advance, there were few surprises.

The chancellor stressed time and again his intention to be honest and act responsibly as the man in charge of the public finances.

But he ended by saying it was a moment of "challenge and change" for the country, the test for him will be how well his policies meet that challenge and the impact of the changes that he's made.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the UK's rapid Covid-19 vaccine roll-out will foster a "swifter and more sustained" economic recovery.

Official forecasts predict the UK economy will grow 4% this year, and get back to its pre-pandemic size six months sooner than previously expected.

An extension of the furlough scheme is also expected to limit job losses.

However, Mr Sunak warned that repairing the long-term damage to the economy "will take time".

The government's independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), expects the pace of growth to strengthen to 7.3% in 2022.

Read the full story here.

Simon Jack
BBC Business Editor

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Rishi Sunak says the "fundamentals" of UK people's character have not changed during the pandemic.

The government's plan will protect "jobs and livelihoods", with ministers still committed to "levelling up" the country, he adds.

Sunak calls this a "moment of difficulties" but also of "opportunities".

That concludes his Budget statement.

Rishi Sunak now announces "a policy on a scale we’ve never done before".

He says new freeports will make it easier and cheaper to do business as well as creating jobs.

He says the eight regions selected to be freeports are: East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames. And Teesside.

Read our explainer of freeports here.

A "new economic campus" will be set up in Darlington. The Treasury and several other departments will be involved, the chancellor says.

He also says a £150m fund will be set up to allow communities to take ownership of pubs, theatres, shops or sports clubs at risk of closure.

Rishi Sunak says the Treasury has acted "for the whole of the UK".

He announces city and growth deals in Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, Falkirk, North Wales, Mid Wales, and Swansea Bay.

Through the Barnett formula, he says he is increasing the funding for the devolved administrations, by: £1.2bn for the Scottish government; £740m for the Welsh government; And £410m for the Northern Ireland executive.

Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent

Rishi Sunak is setting out his plan to future proof the economy, arguing that "when crises come we need to be able to act".

He said it will be the work of "many governments" over many years to pay back the debt taken on during the pandemic.

But critics of austerity may disagree with his claim that it was the Conservatives' "fiscal resilience" that gave the government freedom to act in the way it has during the pandemic.

The austerity undertaken by his predecessors as chancellor saw big cuts to public services and it's not a programme this government seems keen to return to.

The chancellor says he is announcing a new set of UK schemes called "help to grow".

This will include projects to support people get management training and train small business in digital skills.

He also says the UK can become a "scientific super power" and confirms £1.6bn to support the vaccine roll-out programme.

He also announces "radically simplified bureaucracy for high-skilled visa applications", with quicker processes for entrepreneurs.

The chancellor announces the setting up of the UK Infrastructure Bank, based in Leeds. It will have an initial capitalisation of £12bn.

The government is also funding new port infrastructure, he adds.

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Rishi Sunak confirms a planned increase on alcohol duties will be cancelled.

He says it is right to "keep the cost of living low" and so will also be freezing fuel duty.