Follow live coverage of the 2013 Budget speech here on lovemoney.
Chancellor George Osborne has delivered his fourth Budget speech to Parliament. We're now going through the Budget red book looking at the detail.
You can read the full speech here and take a look at What it means for you.
Please let us know your thoughts on what was announced in the Comments box below.
Key points from his speech:
- Personal tax-free Income Tax allowance of £10,000 brought forward a year to 2014
- Fuel duty increase planned for September scrapped
- New homebuying scheme called Help To Buy unveiled – offering shared equity loans for up to 20% of value of new-build homes and Mortgage Guarantee to help people struggling to raise a deposit
- Beer duty escalator abolished and 1p a pint reduction in beer duty from Sunday night#
- Corporation Tax will be cut from 21% to 20% from April 2015
- New Employer Allowance, cutting £2,000 off National Insurance contributions that employers have to pay
- Money from Libor-rigging fines to be given to military good causes
"We are on your side. This is a Budget that doesn't duck our country's problems, but tackles them head on," the Chancellor concludes.
There will be a new Employer Allowance, cutting £2,000 off National Insurance contributions that employers have to pay.
Now Income Tax... the £10,000 personal tax-free allowance will be hit next year, a year earlier than the Government pledged.
The beer duty escalator will be scrapped and beer duty will be cut by 1p from Sunday night. "I'm taking a penny off a pint!" the Chancellor proclaims. All other 'sin tax' duties will continue to increase.
Moving on to duties... September's fuel duty increase will be scrapped altogether, as widely predicted.
Right to buy is also to be extended.
A new homebuying scheme called Help To Buy is unveiled – £3.5 billion of capital spending will be offered in shared equity loans up to 20% of the value of a new-build home. Loans will be interest free for the first five years and will be offered to anyone, regardless of income. The home can't be worth more than £600,000. And families who can't raise a big deposit will be offered a Mortgage Guarantee to increase the availability of higher loan-to-value mortgages. This scheme will run for three years from 2014.
He also mentions the cap on social care costs in England being lowered from £75,000 to £72,000.
Equitable Life policyholders who bought with-profits policies before 1992 will receive payouts of £5,000.
The Chancellor mentions the new childcare support scheme outlined yesterday and the introduction of the single State Pension a year earlier in 2016.
There are a raft of new rules and agreements on tax avoidance in the Budget red book (which we'll be looking at later).
Mr Osborne says the rich will pay more Income Tax than in any of the Labour Government's years in power.
The bank levy will be increased.
Corporation Tax will be cut from 21% to 20% from April 2015. "Britain is open for business," Mr Osborne says – familiar rhetoric he's trotted out before.
Stamp Duty on shares traded on markets such as AIM will be abolished.
There will be Capital Gains Tax relief for companies that sell to their employees.
There will be a raft of measures for small businesses, including vouchers and an expansion of procurement funds.
There will be a single pot of funding for local enterprise around the nation.
Capital spending on infrastructure projects was due to fall back in 2015/16, but this will be boosted by £15 billion of extra spending over the next decade from that date. These will be detailed in June's Spending Review.
Money from the Libor rigging fines has gone to "good military causes".
Public sector pay increases will be capped at 1% in 2015/16.
"We've got to go on making difficult decisions so that Britain can leave within its means," the Chancellor says. He adds that a further £5 billion of efficiency savings have been identified.
[SPOTLIGHT]The Chancellor reaffirms the Government's commitment to overseas aid.
Government departments are forecast to underspend by £11 billion this year.
The Bank of England will be able to continue its quantitative easing/asset purchase programme for a further year. The remit of the Bank's interest rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is being reviewed. However, the MPC's inflation target will remain at 2% as measured by the Consumer Prices Index.
Today's Budget is "fiscally neutral" says the Chancellor. "The tax cuts aren't borrowed... they're paid for."
Public sector net debt is forecast to keep rising for the next few years before falling.
"The deficit continues to come down," the Chancellor says. He says it was 11.2% in 2009/10, but will be 7.9% this financial year, 6.8% in 2013/14, 5.9% in 2014/15, 5% in 2015/16, 3.4% in 2016/17, and 2.2% in 2017/18.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised down its forecast for UK economic growth but says there will not be a second quarter of negative growth, forecasting growth of 0.6% for this year. It's forecasting growth of 1.8% in 2014, 2.3% in 2015, 2.7% in 2016 and 2.8% in 2017.
He warns that "another storm" in the Eurozone would hit the UK.
"This is a Budget for our aspiration nation," he says.
George Osborne is wearing a light blue tie at the despatch box (for those of you who care about these things).
The Chancellor immediately goes on the attack against Labour policies, thumping his hand as he criticises their record on spending.