11:55 BREAKING NEWS : The Chancellor George Osborne has left Number 11 Downing Street, without a smile, to announce his first budget.Osborne will be on his feet at 1230 to deliver what is widely expected to be a tough package of spending cuts and tax increases. However, for low earners, the level at which people start paying income tax should rise by £1,000 - removing almost 900,000 people from the system, a Lib Dem policy.
"It's going to be eye-watering," says BBC political editor Nick Robinson. "[The government] will try to say that all suffer equally," he says, adding that for the first time the Treasury has prepared a document showing the Budget's effects on the population by income group - with the
with the highest earners hit hardest
Also Osborne has announced he wants to balance the book within 5 years, a very ambitious target. This might wobble the bond markets because they might believe this might tip us back into recession.
