this is bbc news at apm. i'm jane hill at westminster where the chancellor philip hammond has delivered his first budget. mr hammond announced an extra £2 billion for under—pressure social care services in england as he painted an up—beat picture of the economy. we embark on this next chapter of our history confident in our strengths and clear in our determination to build a stronger, fairer, better britain. he pledged more help forfirms struggling with a hike in business rates. employed and self—employed alike use oui’ employed and self—employed alike use our public services in the same way, but they are not... but labour leaderjeremy corbyn said the budget ignored the state of the economy, public services and ordinary people. utter complacency about the crisis

facing our public services and complacent about the reality of daily life for millions of people in this country. i'm simon mccoy. the other headlines this hour: the mother of missing raf airman corrie mckeague says it's "only a matter of time" before his body is found as police search a landfill outside cambridge. one woman and a second is critically ill after being stabbed by a man who later turned his knife on himself. hello. good afternoon again from westminster where just a few hours ago philip hammond unveiled his first budget and announced extra money for social care in england over the next three years to help

councils and ease the pressure on the nhs. in his first full budget mr hammond increased national insurance bills for millions of self—employed people, but promised to help firms in england and wales hit by business rate rises. unveiling revised growth figures, the chancellor said the budget provided a "strong, stable platform for brexit". the labour leaderjeremy corbyn accused philip hammond of delivering a budget showing "utter complacency" over the state of the economy. here are the chancellor's measures in more detail. an extra £2 billion will be spent on social care in england over the next three years. a green paper on long—term financing of social care will be published later this year. £100 million has been allocated to place more gps in accident and emergency departments for next winter. but philip hammond began his budget by announcing the independent office

for budget responsibility had upgraded its forecast for economic growth this yearfrom 1.4% to 2%, but it has downgraded its predictions for the following two years. he said that annual borrowing would be £51] billion in 2016—2017, {16.4 billion lower than was forecast in the autumn statement. it will rise to £58.3 billion in 2017—2018 before starting to fall. debt as a proportion of gdp is due to peak at 88.8% in 2017—2018 before starting to fall. on tax, mr hammond announced that self—employed workers will face higher tax bills as part of plans to increase their national insurance contributions by i% to 10% in april 2018. people doing similar work should pay

similar tax. in response to concern over the impact of business rates, he announced a package worth more than £435 million to help businesses in england and wales struggling with a major rise in those rates. he pledged to ease the burden from higher business rates including a £1,000 discount on the business rates of 90% of local pubs. on education, the chancellor confirmed funding for 110 new free schools including a new generation of grammar schools. he said free school transport would be extended to all children on free school meals who attend a selective school. he confirmed that £216 million would be allocated to repairing existing schools. there will not be any increases in alcohol or tobacco duties on top of those previously announced. but a new minimum excise duty will be introduced on cigarettes, based on a packed price of £7.35. the excise duty rates for hauliers and the hgv

road user levy are frozen for another year. let's get this analysis from our political correspondent eleanor garnier. saving for a rainy day, chancellor? a hint of a smile. any spare cash in there, chancellor? though really there is not that much to cheer about. our cautious chancellor has already warned there is no money for a spending spree. grinning and bearing it, chancellor? after an early—morning cabinet, he was off the commons. this, his first and last spring budget. from now on they will be an autumn affair. the right honourable philip hammond. we were promised an upbeat speech and that's how the chancellor started. i report today on an economy that has continued to confound the commentators with robust growth, a labour market delivering record employment and a deficit down by over two—thirds. as we start our negotiations to exit the european union, this budget takes forward our plan

to prepare britain for a brighterfuture. he told mps the uk's debt and borrowing was still far too high. so the only responsible course of action, mr deputy speaker, is to continue with our plan. undeterred by any short—term fluctuations and undistracted. .. undistracted. .. undistracted by the reckless policies advanced by the opposition. because, mr deputy speaker, we on this side will not saddle our children with ever increasing debt. but after repeated claims the social care system is in crisis, the chancellor promised to help ease the pressure. i am committing additional grant funding of £2 billion to social care in england over

the next three years. and he unveiled extra help for small firms worried about changes to business rates, plus a special £1,000 discount for the majority of pubs. but the most controversial move will mean some self—employed workers will face higher tax bills with plans to increase national insurance contributions, a move that contradicts the conservatives‘ manifesto. the chancellor has already announced there will be cash for new free schools including grammars. there is an extra £500 million to shake up vocational and technical training for 16 to 19—year—olds in england and the science budget is getting a boost with funding for robotics, electric cars and artificial intelligence, but labour is demanding the government does more to deal with the rising cost of living. when she took office the prime minister said, "if you're one of those families, if you're just managing i want to address you directly."

this budget does not address them. it failed them. this budget has done nothing to tackle low pay. nothing to solve the state of emergency that persists for so many people demanding and needing health and social care now. and nothing to make a fair economy that truly works for everyone. it's built on unfairness and it's built on failure to tackle unfairness in our society. the snp were quick to criticise the hike in national insurance. the party of aspiration, taxing those who are self—employed, putting in hard disincentives to starting businesses, to employing people, to stepping out on one's own. i think that's a decision which will come back to haunt this chancellor. the economic forecast might be looking up a bit, but austerity has not gone away. the budget is still tight. so what the chancellor gives away, he needs to balance with tax rises and spending cuts too.

when all the budget detail has been unpicked and final assessments have been made, the question for the chancellor will be — has he done enough to deal with the political difficulties without spending too much money as brexit becons? mr hammond might have chucked out his predecessor's timetable for dealing with the deficit, but both he and the prime minister still believe balancing the books is the only way to ensure a stable economy that's growing. let's go to our chief political correspondent, vicki young who's at the houses of parliament. let's start with national insurance. is this breaking the manifesto pledge? is that where we are? well, the treasury would not accept that, but i think anyone who read that 2015 conservative manifesto which said, "we will not put up national

insurance." might think today that they have broken that pledge. now what they did, they brought in a tax lock bill, the year later and in that, they did specify that they we re that, they did specify that they were talking about class one national insurance only, but as you went into that general election, as you were considering who you might vote for, clearly that hadn't been specified. so i think in political terms they are in trouble there and then you turn to the policy itself, then you turn to the policy itself, the merits or not of making it more equal, what you pay in national insurance if you're employed and self—employed. the treasury pointed out that there are lots of wealthy people, qcs and gps, why shouldn't they pay as much as someone who is employed? they pay as much as someone who is employed ? particularly as they pay as much as someone who is employed? particularly as pension changes mean they get the same rights to a pension as everybody else, but the problem is notjust labour and the else, but the problem is notjust labourand the snp

else, but the problem is notjust labour and the snp attacking them on this, the government have a problem on their own side, we have been hearing from conservative mps, quite often after a couple of days, some often after a couple of days, some of the budgets start unravelling, we have had conservatives as well as labour getting up to criticise the chancellor. i don't think we should be going out of our way to tax work and enterprise and success. i know you have to do some of it because you have to do some of it because you need a lot of revenue for the range of public services we offer, but i think our taxes on those things are quite high enough and we might actually find we raise more revenue from more work and from more enterprise if the rates were actually lower. it is very important to ensure that we don't disadvantage self—employed people. this party, on this side, always has been and always will be the party that supports "white van man" and may i say on this day, white van woman and it is vitally important in abolishing class two nics and

instituting class three nics that we don't disadvantage those individuals. they will see have the chancellor's decision to break a solemn manifesto promise at the last general election where the conservatives promised that there would be no increase in national insurance contributions, to have ripped up that promise and to increase national insurance on the self—employed, not by 1%, but go up to 11% of national insurance contributions, i feel they will see asa contributions, i feel they will see as a betrayal of the offer that was made and the promise that was made by the conservatives at the last general election. in the briefing after the chancellor had sat down, the treasury said that the average loss for those self—employed people will be £2110 a year. they are making much though of the distribution of this and how it works. they say that the poorest, the lowest earners are not affected by this, it is those at

the highest end of the scale. more generally, they're going to have to doa generally, they're going to have to do a good selling job on the tory back benches if they are to get the policy accepted by them and the other thing to take away from the budget is really, social care. the treasury are very keen to talk about the extra money, £2 billion over three years. more money too for the nhs to try and sort out how people go into a&e, the idea being to get gps to work out of hospitals and of course, yet another review into the financing of social care. over the yea rs financing of social care. over the years we financing of social care. over the yea rs we have financing of social care. over the years we have had plenty of these. the work really has been done on all of this. i think now, it is up to politicians to make what is always going to be a very tough decision on the funding of social care. the question is whether philip hammond is going to be the man who finally does it? thank you very much. vicki young there. let's discuss some of that my guests

mark littlewood. we have to start with national insurance. whether you think it is or isn't a break in a ma nifesto think it is or isn't a break in a manifesto pledge, your take on it? it isa manifesto pledge, your take on it? it is a break in the manifesto pledge. the down side, it is right thing to do. so we're in favour of what he has done and the reason for that because there is a big difference in the national employed by the employees and the self—employed and that can't be justified for fairness reasons nor the risk that poses to the tax reve nu es the risk that poses to the tax revenues and the public finances. we support what the chancellor has done today. a self-employed person might say, i don't have the pension rights, the been fits... well, they have the pension rights. that's the main issue. what's the big difference between employees and the self—employed? difference between employees and the self-employed? a private pension is never going to be as beneficial as a company pension. the issue is still the state pension and the reason why employees and national insurance has been higher than the self—employed national insurance is because they have more generous state pensions.

that's been abolished, the self—employed and the employees have the same state pension and that is why in the end we were going to have to make steps towards equalising the national insurance of the two groups. self-employed people might point to maternity benefits and paternity benefits. they should be given maternity leave rights. we used to have the benefits you'd get if you were employed were much more generous than the benefits you would get if you were self—employed. the gap has narrowed. philip hammond is on to something, but he will only raise £145 million in revenue from this. i would raise £145 million in revenue from this. iwould have raise £145 million in revenue from this. i would have thought the political risk is not worth that. we're talking about billions elsewhere. this is a rounding error. if he really wanted to do this, he should have got national insurance on employed people down to level the playing field, not national insurance on self—employed people up to level the playing field. if the economy is doing as well as he claims, if he really wanted to equalise this in the interests of fairness, i think he could have gone

for a tax reduction on the employed which would have been hugely popular amongst all workers and indeed the conservative back benchers and he hadn't. elsewhere he has done a good job and he diffused the time bomb on business rates. he diffused one bomb, but he has definitely exploded another bomb with this rise in nics for the self—employed. another bomb with this rise in nics for the self-employed. £145 million not a fortune to raise here. there isa not a fortune to raise here. there is a slippery slope argument. if you don't want to see taxes rise on the self—employed, what that points out there is a larger tax breakfor the self—employed when you employ someone self—employed when you employ someone and use self—employed when you employ someone and use someone 3s a self—employed worker they don't pay 13.8% employer national insurance. that's where the tax break for the self—employed lies. the chancellor hinted he would look at that. the reason he ha pt hinted he would look at that. the reason he hapt cut taxes for everybody else is because what the obr said, despite the short—term good news, actually they stand by

almost all of their grim forecasts for the economy for 2020. borrowing isn't lower and they think the economy will be smaller than they previously said it would be in 2020. this is a grim set of forecasts. previously said it would be in 2020. this is a grim set of forecastsm depends how much we believe economic forecasters anymore. i have got a bit of respect for the obr, but i would trust their judgment bit of respect for the obr, but i would trust theirjudgment about the next year more than what is going to happen in five years' time. the good news about this year, up 0.6%, the further you go into the future the less trustworthy the forecasts are. do you mean that because article 50 hadn't been triggered yet? you don't know what's going to happen when brexit comes along. it is easier to predict the near future than the far future. we're getting back to sort of normal levels of economic growth. that could have given philip hammond a little bit of wriggle room, but what he has decided to do, i'll applaud him that he hasn't gone on a

spending spree, this is a fiscally neutral budget, but he hasn't found any further government savings either. when we eliminate the deficit, this was george osborne's target to do it by 2015, it looks like it will be 2025 and all of remaining heavy lifting there is not being done by austerity, or cuts in government spending, it's all going to be done by hoped for economic growth and enhanced tax revenues and that's an unambitious way to balance the books. we have had 25 years of budget deficits by the time philip hammond or his something sesor finally balances the books. hammond or his something sesor finally balances the booksm unambitious? well, it is true that what the chancellor has done is take a cautious approach and he said the obr has given me another set of forecasts and i'm not going to do much to change in the face of those. it isa much to change in the face of those. it is a good idea for the reason that mark mentions, we don't know what's going to happen in the next four or five years and the chancellor is saying given that i don't know, let's wait and see. really striking, wasn't it, that he barely mentioned brexit, really. it

was alluded to, but he hardly used the word. you could have got 25-1 that he was going to use it several times. we should see this as a holding budget. he hasn't done anything particularly radical. i think we might see more in the autumn, but as the brexit negotiations begin to unfold and either go well or badly, than his future budgets either this autumn in autumn next year are going to be much more crucial than this one. this was basically a holding position budget, but he walked into a political booby—trap at the same time. interesting. briefly, holding budget, do you agree? it is the right thing to do. so good on him. good way to end. thank you both very much indeed. good to see you here. let's talk about personal finance as well. let's return to hull, it is city of culture this year. ruth alexander is there. talk to us more about personal

finance. over to you. you have been talking about the changes to national insurance contributions for the self—employed. there is something else that's going to affect people who have their own companies. it is called the dividend allowa nce companies. it is called the dividend allowance and it allows directors and shareholders to take £5,000 of dividends out of their company tax—free above their personal allowa nce tax—free above their personal allowance and that's going to be reduced from £5,000 to £2,000 from next year. it is a tax break that's used by investors with large share portfolios. it will affect them too. there are no changes to national insurance contributions for the employed, no changes to vat, but that isn't to say that there isn't a lot of other tax stuff going on. we knew already knew about this stuff. we knew it was coming in in april, it is worth knowing about it. the personal allowance threshold which isa personal allowance threshold which is a threshold above which you pay income tax, that's rising from next

month to £11.500 and by the end of the parliament, the government has committed to putting it up to £12500 so committed to putting it up to £12500 so that will give people some money. the higher rate tax threshold, this is the 40 pence tax rate people, that's going up from £43,000 to £45,000, but not for people in scotland, again by 2020, the government has committed to raising that to £50,000. so we thought we might see more increases there, but we didn't. basically the planned changes are happening in april as outlined in the autumn. thinking about duty, fuel duty, remains frozen for seven years now. there will be a new levy on sugary soft drinks, 18 pence and 24 pence a litre, depending on which category the soft dripping falls into. also, alcohol duty is going up. a pint of beer will cost two pence more from monday. a bottle of whisky will rise

by 36 pence and a bottle of wine by ten pence. these are changes that we knew were coming in. these duty rises are going up with rpi. also worth noting a packet of 20 cigarettes will cost 35 pence more from 6pm tonight. one word about savings. there will be a new nsi national savings bond. it is a three year bond. you will be able to get that in april. you can save up to £3,000 in and you'll get 2.2% interest on that. it is not a huge rate. experts are saying it is quite disappointing, but it is something for people who are trying to save at least. jane, back to you. thank you very much, indeed, ruth alexander in hull taking a look at the personal finance implications. let's find out what ukip makes of the budget today. ukip's mep, patrick o'flynn is with me. welcome. a lot of talk, we have heard a lot from inside the chal better and

people talking about the rise, the increase in national insurance for self—employed people. what's your ta ke self—employed people. what's your take away from that? well, that's right. this budget will be remembered for one thing only and that's the attack on the self—employed. the conservative government hasjust self—employed. the conservative government has just given away whatever reputation it might have thought it had as understanding enterprise and people building their own businesses, i think it is a betrayal of "white van man", but not just "white van man", there is a huge number of women who are building their own businesses starting off with self employment to maybe work around the issues of raising a family whilst still making a positive contribution to the overall economy. these people, both the "white van man" and these women, they don't get paid holiday. they don't have a company pension scheme, they don't get sickness pay, they created their own employment and they're contributing created their own employment and they‘ re contributing and created their own employment and they're contributing and now they are being hammered by a chancellor who spent much of his time talking about cutting the tax on big corporations and is attacking tax in terms of national insurance, and

self—employed which looks like it is in clear contravention of a ma nifesto in clear contravention of a manifesto promise too. he did say that it was about an issue of fairness though, that someone who is self—employed and uses public services just as much or as little as someone services just as much or as little as someone who is employed by a company and therefore, the public services should be paid for and the changes that are coming through with the state pension as well. well, i don't think they use them as much in terms of some of those extra benefits that i set out. there has to be an incentive to get out there and set up your own business. i've never set up my own business, i have been on paye, but i accept and admire the people who have have the gumption to make a go of it, and who have no guaranteed income either, i should have added that to the list and may have thought the conservative party say they are the party of the self—employed, well, it didn't sound like it today. when we go knocking on doors as ukip, when i

see a white van parked in a driveway, i always think we have half a chance because it is someone who earns their own living and they will feel betrayed by this chancellor who will have two bites at them in april 2018 and april 2019 whacking up the national insurance. i think it's unfair and he has got this wrong. what do you make of the fa ct this wrong. what do you make of the fact that throughout his whole hour in the commons, he didn't mention brexit? no, he sort of vaguely alluded to it. i think what's clearly happened in the near term, the financial forecasts are better. we have not had a downturn as a result of the june 2016 we have not had a downturn as a result of thejune 2016 referendum vote and that has shown that the george osborne doom and gloom was a scare tactic designed to scare people into not voting for brexit and that hasn't been borne out and we in ukip think actually the up sides of leaving the european union for the economy are much bigger than the down sides, we will be able to sign our own trade deals across the

world with the growing parts of the world with the growing parts of the world economy which the european union isn't and we'll be able to decide on ourfuture union isn't and we'll be able to decide on our future regulation than just accepting future waves of brussels red tape. patrick o'flynn, thank you very much indeed from ukip, thank you forjoining us here outside parliament. just a little calmer and quieter than it was an hour ago. it is international women's day today and there has been a big demonstration here at parliament talking about women and pensions. so that was make ago lot of noise earlier, but a little calmer now. let's continue with our analysis of everything that was contained in the budget. lots of talk about national insurance, social care, much more besides, the liberal democrats norman lamb has joined me. hello. good to see you. let's start with national insurance. the treasury says it is not breaking its manifesto pledge, what do you make of the new policy? well, i think in reality, it is. everybody understood that their manifesto pledge was not to increase and there

will be very many people who are just starting out trying to build a business, who will be hit by this and that, i think, is very worrying. my and that, i think, is very worrying. my biggest concern however is on the health and social care system where although we got some help for social care, it is not nearly enough, the health foundation says £2 billion is needed this year. they're offering £1 billion this year. this will be more older people, not getting the ca re more older people, not getting the care and support they need which will mean that they end up unnecessarily in hospital increases the burden on the nhs. we can't escape from this and the government still continues to fail to recognise the need for a fundamental look at the need for a fundamental look at the whole health and care system. i'm arguing fora the whole health and care system. i'm arguing for a cross party approach. we have met with the prime minister, but still there is no willingness to accept the overwhelming need for this. philip hammond said there is a matthew taylor report coming out on the

issue of social care and that's due to report over the summer. isn't this a government that's going to pause for now and read the report, because this is massive. this is structural. this is an ageing population and it affects you no matter where you live in the country. well, matthew taylor is looking at the gig economy. forgive me. forgive me. you're doing a lot of interviews today. i'm impressed. on social care he says there will be a green paper. there is a green paper, right. but we're arguing there needs to be a look at the whole nhs and care system. the nhs is not getting any extra money apart from a little bit for some particular projects. this means that it is the tightest is the for probably ever within the nhs in the following financial year, spending per head on health is going to fall in real terms. that's an incredible position given the massive rise in demand as we all live longer, we

live with chronic conditions and so forth. so, people working in the nhs, i think, forth. so, people working in the nhs, ithink, will forth. so, people working in the nhs, i think, will be dismayed that there has been no recognition of the impossible situation, the stress that the system is under at the moment and that's why i continue my plea to the government to engage with us, to look at a cross party approach, that will take a fundamental look at the whole held and care system. wouldn't he say that balancing the books is essential because he has to be more careful now than ever because article 50 hasn't been triggered yet? eve n article 50 hasn't been triggered yet? even if you think you have a little money there, his argument is you can't spend that? that's the big thing that is behind all of this budget and it is in a sense the enormous uncertainty, wherever you are on the great brexit debate, the fa ct are on the great brexit debate, the fact is these are uncertain times. we don't know what deal will be done and we don't know what impact it will have on trade and therefore on public finances so he has to be

cautious. that's why it is so stupid to have ruled out staying in the single market and you know, by leaving the single market you put at enormous risk the trade that we do with the rest of europe which could have a very damaging effect on the economy. all right, norman lamb, thank you. i will go away and mug up on my green papers. we'll talk about that when it reports. norman lamb for the liberal democrats and talking about the health service because, of course, he has a particular interest and expertise in the fields of health and mental health in particular. that's something that specifically interests him. so much talk about social care. the announcement of funding over a three year period on social care. let's discuss some of that and what was and wasn't announced perhaps in the budget in this field. anita cha rlesworth has budget in this field. anita charlesworth has joined budget in this field. anita charlesworth hasjoined me and lord

porter from the local government association. it is councils up and down the country, we have heard about it in the last year that have really struggled with the social care issue. first off, simply, is that enough money, what he announced over the three year period? it is the money we have been asking for. we are extremely pleased today because we have got the sort of money we have been looking for. it is an extra £1 million into the system this year. that is interesting, the lga is quite happy. but you think councils for the next three years could make the system work? we cannot accept deficit budgets, so we will have to make it work. it is

not just our we will have to make it work. it is notjust our parents and grandparents this will help, it is told in with mental health problems. we have got people who cannot look after themselves putting a strain on the nhs by occupying beds they should not occupy. it is important to recognise that money should go to councils and they can do the preventative work and it will save the health service a lot of money. are you positive ? the health service a lot of money. are you positive? any new money is welcome and £1 billion is a big investment against the backdrop of the economic issues facing the country. but the scale is huge. we have seen huge reductions in the numberof older have seen huge reductions in the number of older people who can get ca re number of older people who can get care and that is impacting on our hospitals and also on them. many are low income pensioners living on their own with nowhere to turn. also their own with nowhere to turn. also the cost of providing social care is

rising for a good reason. we are introducing the national living wage and most social care workers are on the minimal wage and at is a big pressure. this announcement may well cover the increased costs, that there will be very little left to provide more services to more people and that is what the health service and that is what the health service and older people need. lord porter is suggesting councils will be able to make the system work. our members have done a fantasticjob over the last few years with a reduction in budget. this year we have more money to put in, so we will make it work. it isi to put in, so we will make it work. it is1 billion to put in, so we will make it work. it is 1 billion extra this year and another billion over the next two yea rs. another billion over the next two years. more important than the money is the government is doing a green paper to make this a sustainable project going forward. previous governments have always used small

sticking plasters for what is a broken leg. the green paper may be the plaster cast that helps us fix the plaster cast that helps us fix the broken leg. everyone has to feed in their opinions to that. we need to have a public conversation about what to do about social care. we have had numerous reviews over the years with good intentions and in the end we have not reformed our syste m the end we have not reformed our system sufficiently to put it on a sustainable basis. at the moment it is impossible to carry on as we are and we need that fundamental reform, but that will involve extra spending, notjust but that will involve extra spending, not just in but that will involve extra spending, notjust in one year, but ona spending, notjust in one year, but on a long—term basis, which will be tough. are there any issues for you around personnel and staffing? i am thinking once britain is no longer pa rt thinking once britain is no longer part of the eu. we have been reliant on very low paid workers on very uncertain terms and conditions. we

have had very high turnover and it is difficult to get uk nationals to work in social care, so it is a sector that has been reliant on international workers and brexit raises issues about where we will get those workers. thank you very much indeed for your thoughts and insights on the issue of social care. more money was announced for social care in the budget today. that was for england. let's take a look at factors elsewhere. lorna gordon is in glasgow for us. it isa lorna gordon is in glasgow for us. it is a result of what is called the barna consequential, a proportionate

knock—on effect from those announcements the chancellor made with regards to things like schools and the health service when it comes to england. mr hammond told the house of commons that the additional funding demonstrated the benefits of the united kingdom. he waited for an appreciative noise from the snp benches when he said that, that they did not come. the government in scotla nd did not come. the government in scotland in edinburgh said that extra money is welcome, but they said despite what they called those limited increases in the barnett consequential is, the chancellor's spring budget confirms there are £2.9 billion of cuts to the scottish budget over the next ten years, so there is a fight brewing over who benefits or otherwise to that budget is seen by the westminster government and as seen by the government and as seen by the government in hollywood. he discussed setting up a working group

to look into the older fields in the north sea. they are expensive to operate and very expensive to decommission. there are proposals and pushes from people in the industry to try and make decommissioning tax breaks more attractive to late life operators. the industry expected more than just a review in that area. the government in scotland said they we re government in scotland said they were disappointed, the government in scotland. the tax on alcohol is going up and with inflation a bottle of whiskey will cost an extra 36p. lorna gordon in glasgow. let me flag up lorna gordon in glasgow. let me flag up something that is coming up at how past eight tonight. answering all your questions and queries about today's budget. any questions that you have got in relation to the budget, text this number. good luck getting your message into

a tweet! i promise all your questions will be answered at half past eight this evening. as he was finishing delivering his first budget, the chancellor spoke about the resilience of the british economy and ended on an optimistic note saying he was confident about the future. last november, i set out our plan to build an economy that works for everyone, to enhance our productivity and protect our living standards, to restore our public finances to balance and invest for our future. today's obr finances to balance and invest for ourfuture. today's obr report confirms the continued resilience of

the british economy and at this budget we continue with our plan. building on the foundation of our economic strength, reaching out to seize the opportunities that lie ahead, backing our public services, supporting britain's families, investing in the skills of our young people and making britain the best place in the world to do business. our united kingdom has a proud history. we have done remarkable things together, but we look forward , things together, but we look forward, not backwards, confident that our greatest achievements are ahead of us. today we reaffirm our commitment to invest in britain's future and we embark on this next chapter of our history confident in our strengths and clear in our determination to build a stronger, fairer, better britain. i commend

this budget to the house. philip hammond's closing thoughts on a day that has been dominated by national insurance, business rates and social care. insurance, business rates and social ca re. let's insurance, business rates and social care. let's discuss in particular some of the business elements of everything that was announced. carolyn fairbairn is the director—general of the cbi. sam james is the managing director of an online cleaning market place. matthew baker is the co—founder of a co nsulta nt matthew baker is the co—founder of a consultant and tax adviser company in surrey. the rise in national insurance for self—employed people really is attracting all the headlines tonight. what is your thought on that? we work with the 7000 self—employed cleaners across the uk and this will affect every single one of them. for me it is a short—sighted measure to raise revenue and it affects people on lower incomes. it is over £16,250

and everyone will pay more. that is really targeting families, people who are trying to support themselves and their kids. i think that is really negative. we should be celebrating self—employment and helping people take that risk to go into business, rather than penalising them. the government should be focusing on that and coming up with regulations and way to help them rather than taxing them. some people watching might say, could you not employ them properly and make them proper staff and give them all the rights and sick leave and maternity benefits that come with that? on average our clea ners that come with that? on average our cleaners work about ten hours a week with us, so we are a top up. mostly people are topping up their own income, so they do not want that rigidity of employment. they want the flexibility to take the hours they need at the times they need them, so that is a crucial part of

them, so that is a crucial part of the sharing economy. the government has said it supported the sharing economy and we want to see common—sense regulation. we want to do more for self—employed people who work with us, but we cannot because of current legislation. matthew baker, your take on this announcement? it is affecting all the very small micro—businesses and the very small micro—businesses and the other people in the geeky economy. anyone earning more than £16,000 will pay more national insurance. also the tax digital threshold went from 10000 and we we re threshold went from 10000 and we were hoping it would go up. anyone earning up to the vat threshold has been given an extra year. but that is extra returns people will have to do, so these very low—paid workers have now got an admin burden as well. all these people cannot afford to pay accountants to do these tax returns for them. i appreciate it is

a long list, but is it really enough in total to put off an entrepreneur, someone in total to put off an entrepreneur, someone who in total to put off an entrepreneur, someone who says in total to put off an entrepreneur, someone who says they want to start their own business? they want to lived their lives doing this? people wa nt lived their lives doing this? people want to go out and do certain things and be self—employed and be their own boss. it will not put them off, but it will make it a bit tough in the start—up phase. but it will make it a bit tough in the start-up phase. what is the cbi's take on the business side of the budget? on this issue it is important we retain a commitment to entrepreneurs. it will be so important going forward. but the tax economy is changing and we need to make sure that how we tax people does not become unfair, so there is a balance. the chancellor said it would be a relatively quiet budget

for business and it generally is. there is a bright spot, the technical education shake—up. we have long wanted a vocational route ona par have long wanted a vocational route on a par with the academic route, and this could be a breakthrough and we welcome this. there was a lot of rhetoric about wanting to make britain fit for whatever awaits the country once we are no longer part of the eu. is this the beginning of that? i think it could be. when i go around the country the skills shortages are really serious. we need to equip our young people with the technical skills for the future and we have not had those pathways. it is talking about 15 qualifications, parity of esteem with an academic route. is this really backs this. there will be a three—month work experience opera for every student and business will step up to that. i think this was a good part of the budget and part of

the long—term competitiveness plan we need to have. carolyn fairburn is sounding a bit more optimistic, but do you see any positives in philip hammond and his drive to make britain fit for the post brexit well? i am afraid i did not see that today. i was hoping more on business rates. bigger clients with premises will struggle on business rates. those who thought they would benefit from the business rates relief will not benefit because the re—evaluation is lifting people out of that bracket. they announced a hardship fund, but that is being paid for out of the steep increase in business rates. we were hoping for a bit more on business rates today. people felt going into this there was an awareness that the big hikes were going to hit us and you are saying there is not enough. we will see about 30% increase in our

business rates and that is quite tough. some clients are seeing 100%. hopefully some of that pot will come back to some of the real hardship cases, but there is no definition of what the criteria might be for that. would you like to see more on that? the long—term matters, but so does the short term. support for businesses and the business rates hit for sam is big. we agree, the £300 million are going to local authorities needs to be spent very carefully to help the businesses hardest hit. philip hammond barely mentioned brexit in an hour. yes, thatis mentioned brexit in an hour. yes, that is good, it is not all about brexit, but it is a backdrop. is this rate support would have helped him counter some of that. thank you so him counter some of that. thank you so much forjoining us here. i appreciate your time. continuing reaction to everything that philip

hammond had to announce today throughout the evening on the bbc and much more analysis coming up with hugh edwards from five o'clock. background briefings, information and all the stats and calculators as to what it means for you is on the bbc website. hello, i'm rachel horne. now a look at the business and market's reaction to the budget. it was his first and our last, the spring budget has been annouced, we'll be getting the market reaction. the markets — shares on the ftse on london inched up slightly after the budget statement delivered little surprises but builders got a small boost from reassuring comments on infrastructure spending. and what about currencies? sterling has fallen 20% since the brexit vote in the summer, today it held steady.

that is a snapshot, let's get a proper look. the ftse is up slightly, a tenth of a percent. the dax in germany is up about the same amount. the dow and nasdaq are possibly reacting to jobs out of the states today. it was called the national employment report and private payrolls in america grew by 298,000 jobs last month. that is significant because it was well above the expectation. these are private payrolls. the us labor department figures are due out on friday and we will be keeping an eye on them. the ftse is up ever so slightly today. not a huge reaction to the budget. some building stocks

did do well after philip hammond talk about infrastructure spending. but did they not react because they had priced in the fact it was set to bea had priced in the fact it was set to be a rather low—key event? now let's get detailed analysis with richard jeffrey, chief investment officer at cazenove capital management. i wanted to ask you about the ftse today. it is up ever so slightly. would you expect more of a reaction on the markets to a budget? sometimes we seem on the markets to a budget? sometimes we seem more on the markets to a budget? sometimes we seem more reaction, but it depends on the content of the budget and we did expect of a key event today. the briefings that have come through over the last week or so come through over the last week or so pointed in that direction. we know the budget schedule is changing and philip hammond was to move from and philip hammond was to move from a march budget to a november budget. he made it clear today that it is really the november if then we should be looking to as the major set piece and actual, physical event

of the year. it was always destined to be low—key today and that is why you are not seeing very much market reaction. there were a few headlines about debt and the economic forecast for growth by up to 2%. what about government bonds? a couple of interesting areas. growth forecasts have been revised higher. the bank of england did this a couple of weeks ago and lifted its growth forecast for this year from 1.4% up to 2%. now the office for budget responsibility has done the same in its numbers published today in dr abbas khan by philip hammond. they are also forecasting 2% growth for the current year. that is a much better backdrop. behind at the office for budget responsibility is much more optimistic about the rate of household spending we will see this year. any winners on the uk markets? some building stocks went

up markets? some building stocks went up ever so markets? some building stocks went up ever so slightly when philip hammond talk about infrastructure spending. you are talking about a few going up slightly, but to be honest it looks like market noise to me. there has not been a particularly strong reaction in any area of the market to the budget news. there were no big announcements that the market could latch onto and say, this is great news for that sector or another sector. it is fairly muted responses. let's talk about the us. the dow is trading ever so slightly down at the moment. we had strong employment numbers. explain the difference between the numbers and the labour report we will get on friday and what impact that will have on the federal reserve's interest rate decision next week. the labour report we see on friday i the official numbers with non—farming employment, and that is the major statistic of the month.

the precursor id adp figures, the private sector calculation of employment. it comes from a private sector organisation. they are not a lwa ys sector organisation. they are not always exactly the same and sometimes they can be misleading guide. but the figures were much stronger than expected and they are showing very strong employment growth in the united states. that is building up tension in the labour market. it is very tight. we know thatis market. it is very tight. we know that is something the federal reserve will look at when setting interest rates and i think it is likely we will see an interest rate increase this month in the us. the federal reserve has that meeting next week and it stars on wednesday. what else will they be discussing on the table? they will be looking at the table? they will be looking at the labour market and focusing quite heavily on that and thinking about inflation implications and looking at other pressures on inflation,

such as energy prices which have gone up quite a lot over the last six months. they will be thinking about second—round effects from an increase in prices, but it is merely the labour market they will be looking at and the implications for the wider economy. i think it is unavoidable that we will see an increase next week in interest rates. we will look for further increases following that this year, probably three increases, each one incremental, only a quarter of a percent. we are beginning to see a trend developing and policy tightening. will this put the same sort of thought into the minds of the committee members of the monetary policy committee and the bank of england? will they be thinking in the same direction by the end of the year? thank you very much for that. thank you very much for that. there was some other business news

today aside from the budget, the latest switching data from energy uk, revealed nearly 420,000 customers switched electricity supplier last month, the highest number in february since 2014 and an increase of 21% on the previous month. an advert published in the guardian newspaper about a new jaguar car has been rebuked by the advertising standards authority. the regulator said the story was "irresponsible" because it was likely to encourage unsafe driving practices. it described drivers using in—built smart technology to check their calendars and use other apps while on the road. the nintendo switch may have become the japanese firm's fastest selling console — according to several reports. nintendo will not reveal official sales figures until april. but games magazine famitsu says more than 330,000 units were sold in the first three days injapan, more than its previous console the wii u. and london—focused estate agents foxtons says revenue from property sales plunged 23% last year due

to uncertainty following the brexit vote as well as changes to stamp duty. profits more than halved as a result, falling to £18.8m last yearfrom £41m in 2015 — foxtons warned trading conditions will "remain challenging". a quick recap of the markets. federal reserve rate decision expected next week — most are now anticipating an increase — that will strengthen the dollar an increased interest rate means a better return so that increased demand for the dollar, which in turn could further weaken sterling. it is 20% lower since the brexit third. you have taken the mark is awake! but you have seen them already. there is a round—up of all

the stories on our business website. what a glorious day it has been across northern england and northern ireland. there has hardly been a cloud in the sky. this was the view of daffodils in york today. but further south there has been more cloud around and that cloud in northern scotland has been accompanied by a strong wind and plenty of showers. still patchy rain in southern england and south wales. still showers moving across scotland. they may brush northern ireland and northern counties of northern england. for most of us it isa northern england. for most of us it is a frost free night. this is a drop in the morning and we will still see some cloud in the far south—west of england. for cornwall there are outbreaks of rain. come

further north and it is a brighter picture. it is a lovely start today in the midlands, wales and england is good sunny spells around. in the central belt of southern scotland the showers will fade and we are just left with a scattering in the northern isles. a bit more cloud in southern coastal counties of england compared with elsewhere, but the vast majority will have another lovely, springlike day and temperatures widely into double figures. on through tomorrow night it could turn quite chilly for a time down the eastern side of the uk with a touch of frost, but we bring in cloud and outbreaks of rain from the south—west. it is mild within this cloudy zone and this progress is northwards during friday. a very different look to things on friday

with much more cloud around. but the feel will be quite similar, it will still feel quite mild. over the weekend it is looking changeable, but there are gaps where it will be drier and brighter in between the rain. instead of the wind coming from the south, it is more from the west and the atlantic and that will bring temperatures down a little bit by the time we get to sunday. but we will still be" is. occasional sunshine, occasional rain, no were having a wash—out, and a slightly different feel to things by the time we get to sunday. this is bbc news. i'm huw edwards live in westminster — where philip hammond has delivered his budget as chancellor. he's been accused of breaking an election manifesto promise by raising national insurance rates for the self—employed

— millions are affected. but there was an extra £2 billion for under—pressure social care services in england — as he painted an upbeat picture of the economy. as we start our negotiations to exit the european union, this budget takes forward our plan to prepare britain for a brighterfuture. labour leaderjeremy corbyn accused the chancellor of ignoring the state of the economy, public services and ordinary people. utter complacency about the crisis facing our public services and complacent about the reality of daily life for millions of people in this country.