Budget 2010 – Live coverage

 

Simon Ward, MSN Money’s Senior Editor:

 

That’s the end of our live coverage. Thanks for joining us. For full Budget reaction and analysis, head to our Budget 2010 special

 

1.35pm; "Darling is just Brown with a face lift, a puppet, as we all know Brown just tells him what to do!" says mrwhiskers on our Budget messageboard. Have your say here.

 

1.34pm: In response, David Cameron says the stamp duty cut is a Tory policy. He also derides the higher duty on cider and more university places as policies previously being dismissed by Labour. "Labour have made a complete mess of the British economy and they have done nothing to clean it up," he says.

 

1.33pm: The chancellor sits down.

 

1.32pm: The higher winter fuel payment to be extended.

 

1.30pm: Child tax credit to rise by £4 a week for one- and two-year-olds from 2012.

 

1.29pm: The chancellor prefaces his policies on tax avoidance with a jab at the opposition benches. He says £500m will be raised via his measures. Tax information exchange agreements to be signed with Dominica, Grenada and Belize. This causes uproar in the House as it’s clearly aimed at a certain Tory peer.

 

1.27pm: £35m to be put into university enterprise fund to encourage innovation. £270m to create university modernisation fund. 20,000 more university places to be created for subjects such as maths and sciences.

 

1.25pm: New help for computer games and film industries.

 

1.24pm: The chancellor has reiterated his support for universal high speed broadband access by 2017.

 

1.22pm: £2bn to be set aside for new green investment bank for developing green energy.

 

1.18pm: Some transport plans. Plans for high-speed rail link from London to Midlands and Scotland to continue. £100m for motorway and road repairs. £285m to be allocated for improvement to motorways.

 

1.16pm: Moves to help entrepreneurs set up their own businesses with doubling of entrepreneurs’ relief for capital gains tax.

 

1.14pm: £200m for new fund for business. Business rates to be cut for small businesses.

 

1.12pm: Now onto growth. RBS and Lloyds TSB to provide £94bn of business loans to small- and medium-sized companies.

 

1.09pm: £11bn of efficiency savings promised, including 15,000 civil service jobs relocated from Central London. £4bn to be cut from public sector pay and pensions. £5bn cuts in lower spending priorities.

 

1.07pm: £4bn will be allocated from next year’s reserve to pay for military operations in Afghanistan.

 

1.05pm: Inheritance tax threshold to be frozen for four years.

 

1.04pm: Bad news for cider drinkers. The duty will rise by 10% above inflation from midnight on Sunday. Tobacco duty will rise by 1% above inflation from today. Duty on beer, wine and spirits will rise by 2% from Sunday.

 

1.02pm: No further changes to VAT or national insurance.

 

1.00pm: The 50% income tax level is to remain at £150,000 when it is introduced. Tax relief on pensions is to be restricted for those earning £130,000 or more. Popular with Labour.

 

12.56pm: The borrowing forecast is revised down from £178 billion to £167 billion for the financial year 2009/10. Borrowing is forecast to be £163bn in 2010/11 and £131bn in 2011/12.

 

12.55pm: The 3p fuel duty increase is to be staggered. 1p in April, 1p in October and the final penny in January 2011.

 

12.54pm: The chancellor is sticking with his growth forecast of 1-1.5% for 2010. He’s forecasting 3-3.5% in 2011.

 

12.53pm: Some better news for savers. ISA limits will rise in line with inflation after this year.

 

12.52pm: Here’s a big one. As widely predicted, stamp duty will be scrapped on properties costing under £250,000. This will be paid for by an increase in stamp duty to 5% on properties over £1 million.

 

12.51pm: The higher rate of mortgage repayment support will be extended for those having problems meeting their repayments.

 

12.49pm: Tax credits will be extended, the chancellor says. People over 60 will be able to claim working tax credits. He says the government is looking at scrapping the minimum retirement age. All under 24s out of work for six months will be able to get a job or get training.

 

12.47pm: The chancellor says the unemployment claimant count is lower than "when we took over in 1997". This wakes the opposition benches up.

 

12.46pm: Unsurprisingly, the chancellor is repeatedly pointing to the action taken by the government as being "decisive".

 

12.45pm: The chancellor says the car scrappage scheme has boosted new car sales by 30%.

 

12.42pm: The predicted measure to provide basic bank accounts for all is announced. The chancellor says it will provide access for "more than a million people" who don’t currently have one.

 

12.40pm: The chancellor says the bankers’ bonuses tax has raised £2 billion – more than double what was forecast.

 

12.39pm: "Improved global financial regulation must be a priority." The chancellor talks about the nationalised banks and how the government plans to "get all taxpayers’ money back".

 

12.37pm: "Economic disaster was averted," the chancellor says.

 

12.36pm: Spending will be switched to focus on small businesses and key skills.

 

12.35pm: The chancellor says that borrowing is lower than forecast last year. "This will be a Budget to secure the recovery."

 

12.33pm: "It has been a testing time," Alistair Darling begins. "The record shows the right calls were made."

 

12.30pm: OK, we’re ready…

 

12.20pm: A quick round-up of the latest rumours doing the rounds ahead of the speech itself – stamp duty to be scrapped for house purchases under £250,000; the 3p increase in fuel duty to be introduced in stages; and increases in duty on alcopops and strong cider.

 

12.15pm: Much derision after a question on the alleged ‘cash for influence’ MPs being stripped of their peerages. Gordon is in a fiery mood, saying he wants to be remembered for "winning the next election".

 

12.10pm: Some fiery jousting in Prime Minister’s Questions ahead of the main event. David Cameron: "The cab meter’s ticking". The Tories are "wrong, wrong, wrong" is Gordon Brown retort.

 

12.00pm: Alistair Darling is in a blue tie – the bookies’ favourite.

 

Hello and welcome to MSN Money’s live coverage of Budget 2010. We’ll be blogging the build-up, the speech and the reaction as it happens.

 

If you want to keep in touch via Twitter, head over to MSN Money’s feed, where MSN Editor-in-Chief Matt Ball will be tweeting live throughout.

 

You can have your say on our Budget 2010 messageboard.