this is bbc news. i'm chris rogers. the headlines at 11: the chancellor delivers his budget, but against the backdrop of a slowing economy. philip hammond unveiled a series of measures, which he says will put the uk on a secure footing for brexit and beyond. a britain we can be proud of, a country fit for the future. i know we can't build it overnight, but in this budget today, we can lay the foundations. they call this a budget fit for the future. the reality is this government is not fit for office. the man set to take over as zimbabwe's president, emmerson mnangagwa, says the country is witnessing a new democracy. and the former bosnian serb army commander, ratko mladic, is convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity during the bosnian war of the 1990s. and on newsnight, we're

with philip hammond's deputy, liz truss, to ask some of those awkward questions that emerge on budget days. like does it really help first—time buyers to cut stamp duty, or does it simplyjust push up houses like the experts say? good evening, and welcome to bbc news. the chancellor has delivered his second budget this year, warning that the economy is expected to grow more slowly than previously thought. philip hammond said the forecast for growth this year was being reduced from 2% to 1.5% with successive downgrades over the following years. despite that mr hammond has found more money for the nhs committing £2.8 billion over three years to the overstretched health service in england. on housing, stamp duty will be abolished for first—time buyers

of homes up to £300,000 in england, wales, and northern ireland. and on brexit, he's setting aside £3 billion to be spent on plans for leaving the european union. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, reports. almost ready to go. a big day for downing street, whose grip for months has been shaky, to say the least. reporter: feeling the pressure, chancellor? the priority for number 10 and ii, those powerful next—door neighbours... is this a make or break budget? ..was for today's events not to slip, to keep the budget tightly in their grasp. for the chancellor, the aim, to be the steady national bank manager, not to tear up the rules altogether. knowing his ownjob, as well as the government's

fortunes, would be shaped by what he was about to say. philip hammond. a cheerier start than mr hammond's usual demeanour suggests. i report today on an economy that continues to grow, continues to create more jobs than ever before, and continues to confound those who seek to talk it down. in this budget, we express our resolve to look forwards, not backwards. yet, with brexit hanging over him, the risks of no deal with the rest of the eu real and expensive. today, i am setting aside over the next two years another £3 billion, and i stand ready to allocate further sums if and when needed. he wasn't gambling, though, with his ability to get through the speech. remember hers? i did take the precaution of asking my right honourable friend to bring a packet of cough sweets, just in case. cheering. but he had to reflect the worry felt

by many around the country, and fess up to the fact that the economy will be sluggish for longer, the country overall less wealthy for years. the first time there has been this kind of prediction since 1983. they revised down the outlook for productivity growth, business investment and gdp growth across the forecast period. what ministers want you to hear is their promise to spend billions more to get house—building going, and to make it cheaper to buy the first time. mr deputy speaker, when we say we will revive the homeowning dream in britain, we mean it. we do not underestimate the scale of the challenge, but today, we have made a substantial downpayment. it was one of the few surprises, stamp duty will go for good for first—time buyers on houses worth up to 300,000, that's the majority.

but it's only expected to prompt around 3,500 extra people to buy. so, we will increase... so, after tory concernjoined other parties‘ opposition, the chancellor promised to smooth the sharpest edges of the new benefit, universal credit. universal credit delivers a modern welfare system where work always pays and people are supported to earn. but i recognise, mr deputy speaker, the genuine concerns on both sides of the house about the operational delivery of this benefit. the controversial benefit won't be paused, but families won't have to wait so long to receive the payment when they first claim. and they will be able to stay on housing benefit for longer. there was cash for more maths teachers, for research and development, but no extra money for care for the elderly. the health service in england, though, will get an extra £2.8 billion in the next couple of years, far less than its bosses say it needs. but the government will find more

money to give nurses a pay rise next year. with no obvious clangers so far from the chancellor, the government hopes this can steady tory nerves. we are at a turning point in our history, and we resolve to look forwards, not backwards, to seize the opportunities ahead of us, and together to build a britain fit for the future. i commend this statement to the house. a sigh of relief from the chancellor, but obvious anger from the labour leader. not enough to change much, he claimed, and not enough for millions in need. economic growth has been revised down, productivity growth has been revised down, business investment revised down. people's wages and living standards revised down. what sort of strong economy is that? what sort of fit—for—the—future is that? they call this "a budget

fit for the future," the reality is, this is a government no longer fit for office. remember, the government barely has a majority when it needs it, so opposition parties can make life extremely hard. he is deluded. when you look at the 0br book, the fiscal stimulus from this is 0.1%. it is nothing. living standards will be severely curtailed. we have a very severe squeeze continuing in public services. we are pleased that this time, because it's never happened before, we have had an opportunity in shaping the thinking of the budget. a squeeze which will hang over companies and families around the country, a backdrop that the government at westminster will find hard to escape. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. emmerson mnangagwa, who is due to be sworn in as zimbabwe's new president on friday, has told his supporters the country is "witnessing the start of a new democracy."

the former deputy to robert mugabe has been speaking in harare after returning from south africa. he will replace mr mugabe who resigned yesterday. 0ur zimbabwe correspondent, shingai nyoka, was listening to mr mnangagwa's historic speech. zimbabwe's incoming president, emmerson mnangagwa, has made his first public appearance since he fled the country last week. now, he left as a villain, he has come back as a hero to take over leadership of zimbabwe. there is an expectation he will be sworn in on friday as the interim president. thousands of people have gathered here to welcome him, most of them party supporters. there is a huge expectation on his shoulders right now. the economy is challenged and they expect he will be able to fix that. most families survive on street vending, students who have graduated from university have not been able to find jobs. there is a huge expectation

that he might be the change that zimbabwe needs. zimbabwe's incoming president emmerson mnangagwa has just made his first public appearance. he left as a villain, but he has come back as a hero to lead zimbabwe. there is an expectation that he will be sworn in as interim president on friday. thousands of party supporters have come here to welcome him. there is also a sense that there is a huge expectation on his shoulders and to deliver zimbabwe out of its current challenges. most of those challenges are economic. the infrastructure is dilapidated. there is high unemployment and many here believe that he will provide the reform that zimbabwe needs. the former bosnian serb army commander, ratko mladic, has been jailed for life for genocide and other atrocities committed during the bosnian war in the 1990s. a tribunal in the hague ruled

that he significantly contributed to the massacre of around eight thousand muslim men and boys at srebrenica. from the hague, our special correspondent, allan little, sent this report. a warning, it does contain some distressing images. mr mladic, sit. it has been the most emotionally charged of all the trials this court has heard. meradic, if you... mladic demanded a halt to the hearing because of his high blood pressure. when thejudge refused, mladic was led out yelling obscenities. curtains down, mr mladic will be removed from the court room. in his absence, thejudge carried on. the crimes committed rank among the most heinous known to human kind and include genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity. mladic committed genocide at srebrenica in 1995,

there his men rounded up or hunted down 8,000 men and boys, some as young as 12, and murdered them. the sniping and bombardment of the capital sarajevo was designed to terrorise the civilian population. a member of the srk shot a bosnian muslim woman walking on the street with her children. he's talking about the woman in the white coat, her name is dzena na sokolovic. the bullet passed through her abdomen and hit her seven—year—old son in the head, killing him. last year, i went to see her, she told me why she'd gone to the hague to give evidence. translation: it meant a lot to me, i went for the sake of my child. i know that nothing will bring him back, but i would go again tomorrow if they asked me. i can't tell you how important

it was for me to testify. across bosnia, mladic's forces drove hundreds of thousands of non—serbs from their homes. thousands of men were held in detention camps, were hundreds died. for this, mladic was convicted of murder, extermination and forced deportation. this is vikrit in 1982, today he welcomed the verdict. "this should send a signal across the world", he told me, "that in future war criminals will be punished. there will be justice." ratko mladic was not the architect of ethnic cleansing, but he was its ruthless enforcer. he didn'tjust fight a war, he carried out a huge and violent criminal enterprise. allan little, bbc news, the hague. now on bbc news, it's time for newsnight. he made us laugh... i did take the precaution of asking my right honourable friend to bring a packet of cough sweets, just in case.

he made us cry... regrettably, our productivity performance continues to disappoint. but did he do enough for the country? it's been a ragged old few weeks for the government, at a difficult time for the country. budget day is the big chance for chancellors to show they've got a grip on things. with some serious economic downgrades, we'll ask where the budget leaves us. we have our home team of specialist correspondents. we'll hear from the government treasury team, as well as the opposition. we'll digest the day with our panel of commentators. and we're all here in bury to bring you the first focus group since the chancellor made that budget speech. what do they think of what he's offering today? hello. the budget headline: britain isn't quite the strong economy we'd hoped or thought. and that's official.

the sixth biggest economy in the world, the chancellor told us, not the fifth as it is often described. our new budget forecasts predict growth over the next five years to be lacklustre. less than 2% all the way. pathetic is a term that comes to mind. not that you would have thought so from the early paragraphs of philip hammond's speech, with an upbeat description of britain's ability to benefit from the white heat of a new technology revolution. for the first time in decades britain is genuinely at the forefront of this technological revolution. not just in our universities and research institutes, but this time in the commercial development labs of our great companies and on factory floors and business parks across this land. but we must invest to secure that bright future for britain. and at this budget, that is what we choose to do. well, park that thought, because we soon had to get into the nitty gritty.

and two big things stuck out for me. first, that low growth. it's all about productivity, the amount we produce for an hour of work. in the past, productivity tended to go up as we get better at things. but look here at the graph — when the financial crash came, it fell right back. and for years now, the 0br have been forecasting that it'll bounce back. these are the last few forecasts. but actual productivity simply stagnated. so now they've scaled back the forecast. and from that, all other bad news follows. borrowing, for example, is not coming down nearly as fast as the chancellor wanted. and this is notjust a temporary recession either. nor is this brexit — that could still muck everything up as the forecast assumes it goes fairly smoothly.