it's a measure that seems to undo a pledge made by george osborne in his budget last year. mr hammond's also finding £100m to place more gps in accident and emergency departments in england for next winter. and there was a change in technical education, with the introduction of a new broad—based t—level qualification, as well as an extra £216 million in funding for schools. the government has been coming under pressure to provide more money for social care budgets, with council leaders saying the system is on the brink of collapse. well, today the chancellor responded, announcing £2bn of extra funding for social care in england over the next three years. so today, mr deputy speaker, i am committing additional grant funding of £2 billion to social care in england over the next three years. mr deputy speaker, that's £2 billion over the next three years, with £1 billion available in 2017—18,

which will allow local authorities to act now to commission new care packages, and it forms a bridge to do better care funding that becomes available towards the end of the parliament. of course, this is not only about money. while there are many excellent examples of best practice around the country, at the other end of the scale, just 2a local authorities are responsible for over half of all delayed discharges to social care, so alongside additional funding, the health and community secretaries will identify measures to support authorities that are struggling and ensure morejoined up working with the nhs. the previously announced reform to business rates has unnerved some companies, who feared they'd see their bills spike. well, today the chancellor offered some comfort, including a cap on the increase in business rates for

certain companies. today, as i promised many of my right honourable friends i would, i address those concerns with three measures which apply to the national business rate system for england. first, any business coming out of small business rate relief will benefit from an additional cap. no business losing small business rate relief will see their bill increase next year by more than £50 a month, and the subsequent increases will be capped at either the transitional relief cap or £50 a month, whichever is higher. perhaps the most politically controversial element of today's budget was the reform to national insurance contributions. class 4 rates will go up to 10% from 9% and to ii% in april 2019. the conservative manifesto had said it wouldn't raise tax from national insurance, but ministers say the budget does not breach any manifesto pledges. from april 2018, when the class to

nic is abolished, the main rate of class for nics will increase to 10%, with a further 1% increase in april 2019. the combination of the abolition of class two and the class for increases i have announced today raises the net —— a net £145 million a yearfor our raises the net —— a net £145 million a year for our public services by 2021-22. mr a year for our public services by 2021—22. mr deputy speaker, that is an average of around 60p per week are self—employed person in this country. let's go to our chief political correspondent, vicki young, who is on college green outside parliament for us. no doubt what the headlines will be tomorrow, and they could be brutal for philip hammond on that very issue of national insurance. i think they're right to elements here. one

is the manifesto commitment. the conservatives went into the 2015 election saying there would be no tax rises. there did john david cameron saying it very clearly, and yet today, they have put up national insurance for the self—employed. then you turn to the policy itself. then you turn to the policy itself. the treasury argument on this is that it the treasury argument on this is thatitis the treasury argument on this is that it is a matter of fairness that it isn't fair that those who are self—employed don't pay as much in tax as those who are employed, so that will be the argument, but it will be a pretty tough sell to some conservative mps. will be a pretty tough sell to some conservative mp5. i don't will be a pretty tough sell to some conservative mps. i don't think we should go out of our way to tax effort, enterprise and success. i know you need to do some in order to pay for public services, but i think the tax on those things is quite high and. it is important to make sure we don't disadvantage self—employed people. on this side, this has been and always has been

the party that supports white van man. and on this particular day, also white van woman. i'm not sure that making a minor change at the edges is the right way to go about changing the relationship of taxation between the self—employed and the ordinarily employed. let's discuss the budget a little more. i amjoint by discuss the budget a little more. i am joint by peter dow from labour's treasury team. what is your reaction to what you heard today? treasury team. what is your reaction to what you heard today7|j treasury team. what is your reaction to what you heard today? i think it let people down — the unemployed, those in social care, those in the nhs, and it left children in the education system down. i think it was a let budget. when you talk about social care, he has come up with £2 billion more. it's not a small amount of money, so surely you welcomer and councils around england will too. that is in the context of

£4.5 billion that had been cut over the past few years, so it nowhere near makes up that deficit that they created. people of also talked about the fact that philip hammond didn't mention brexit that much. some are saying it is like the elephant in the room. you think he should have said more about brexit and what is coming down the track was maclj think we have got from the government over the past few weeks is an attempt to somehow quash any debate. this is shallow about —— issue about parliament having the final say, they are not sure about it. they threatened to abolish the hands of lourdes, so i think it is a clamp—down. —— the house of lords. what is labour's answer? we know you wa nt what is labour's answer? we know you want more spending on the nhs, on social care, but how will you find it, and will you do the same as philip hammond, to balance the books in the next parliament? we will say that we will only spend money from

taxes on day—to—day expenditure, and anything else will be investment money. that will be our fiscal rule. this is a budget of choices. the government decided it wanted to give tax cuts to corporations, tax cuts in relation to the bank levy, capital gains and inheritance tax cuts. they have made a choice to do that, and we would make different choices. business rates, something he has come under a lot of pressure over, the fact that they have been revalued but that some places will be quite badly hit. he has tried to leave the impact of that, but has he done enough, do you think was mike they have had a head in the sand approach for the last few years. they knew this was coming, and here we are, at the 11th hour, trying to put something right, and it's not going very well for them in that regard. you know the accusation put

against labour is that you willjust borrow more, you want to spend more, and that is always the answer. people talk about philip hammond having this war chest by the end of this parliament, but he says it is much more important we get the deficit down. is labour still committed to doing that? deficit down. is labour still committed to doing that7m deficit down. is labour still committed to doing that? it is like this, isn't it? it is a failure chest. he claims he has had to set aside £60 billion in relation to brexit. what an indictment of a government that here we are having to set around £60 billion, apparently, we're not quite sure, to deal with the post brexit dissonances. that is an indictment of them, not the labour party's responsibility. it is for them to sort out. as i said, they make choices about where they wanted to make tax cuts, and we would have made different choices. petered out, thank you very much. some said it was quite thin —— peter dowds. some

people are saying philip hammond is really waiting to see how brexit will pan out, and this idea of a war chest, the £25 billion he might have by the end of the parliament, when his spokesperson was asked about it after philip hammond sat down and said, he would not call it a war chest but a tank of fuel for a long journey. lots of people think there will be a lot of bumps in the road. the treasury said that 16,000 businesses nationally would benefit

from £150 million of targeted support for smaller companies, while others may receive sums from a £305 million discretionary fund. but in a region like south west england that depends on small employers, is that going to be enough? tamsin melville reports now from cornwall. cakes now reduced! i've got white chocolate lemon tart or belgian buns. not a budget of big giveaways but for struggling high streets, some cause for cheer. from april neil was one of those facing a big hike in business rates, more than £300 a month extra and he had been taken over the rate relief threshold. now those increases for people like him will be and it is that long—term reform promised today that people like wendy say is vital. her rates are going down, but she is struggling with online competition and low takings. it is not covering the overheads, certainly not covering the rates or wages. extremely difficult. if i knew what i know now, i wouldn't be here. the current business rates just tax business whether a customer walks through the door or not. i think anyone would say it is fairer to tax on profits and that makes a more competitive

investment strategy for businesses rather thanjust having big rises just for existing, landing on your door on day one. the reform timescale given by the chancellor today was to fund the next re—evaluation due in five years' time. in the meantime a sweetener in the form of a £300 million fund for councils to help the hardest hit. much more analysis on the budget to come in the next hour, but first, time for a look at the weather with nick miller. spring— like weather across the uk tomorrow. what a glorious view from redcar this afternoon. some patchy rain and drizzle, and coastal and hill fog in the south—west. not much

frost to be found, just a few spots in sheltered eastern scotland, particularly in the first part of the night. on thursday morning, it will be a drier, brighter day in south wales and southern england. pa rt south wales and southern england. part of cornwall will see further outbreaks of rain. it will be a misty, murky start across southern england and south wales. elsewhere, decent dry, sunny weather to start the day. across scotland, still some showers, but those in the central belt and to the south will begin to fade. some outbreaks of rain at times into cornwall, still some cloud into southern coastal counties of england and south wales. elsewhere, lovely sunshine coming through, temperatures widely in double figures. it will feel really

pleasant. it may make it to 16 celsius in south—east england. the clear skies on the eastern side of england on thursday night, there could be some frost around. quite a contrast as friday begins. it will be the cloud and drizzly rain that wins out on friday, pushing to the north. 0n wins out on friday, pushing to the north. on friday, things will look different, with plenty of cloud around, but it will feel similar because it will still be mild. it is more unsettled at the weekend. we will bring these weather fronts across the uk, but there are gaps in between, and if you're in one of those, it will be dry and bright for a time. the weekend starts mild, but the wind direction changes a little bit. temperatures will be down a couple of degrees by sunday. not by much, it has to be said. 0ccasional sunshine, occasional rain, this weekend, and feeling cooler by sunday. this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie.

the headlines at 8pm... the chancellor philip hammond has increased national insurance bills for the self—employed, in his first budget. the move's led to accusations he's broken a manifesto pledge not to raise taxes. the budget included an extra £2 billion for social care in england, with the chancellor saying he's putting the economy on a solid footing. as we start our negotiations to exit the european union, this budget takes forward our plan to prepare britain for a brighterfuture. in response, the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, said the budget was built on unfairness and provided tax breaks for the few and public service cuts for the many. utter complacency about the crisis facing our public services and complacent about the reality of daily life for millions of people in this country.