Live coverage of Alistair Darling’s last budget before the general election here now.

13.30pm: That’s it – the Chancellor sits down.

13.29pm: Every pensioner entitled to a weekly income of £132.60 from April.

13.28pm : £4 a week increase in Child Tax Credit from 2012.

13.26pm: Governement is ready to sign Tax Information Agreements with Dominica, Grenada and Belize in the next few days – this brough raucous laughter from the Labour benches.

13.25pm: £270m to be given as a one-off payment to help modernise universities.

13.24pm: Government will set up £35m university enterprise capital fund.

13.20pm: Extra £60m for offshore wind turbines.

13.18pm: £100m provided for repairs to local roads damaged by recent bad weather. Extra £285m made available for motorways.

13.17pm: Not increasing main rate of capital gains tax.

13.16pm: Chancellor will cut business rates for one year from October.

13.15pm: 15 per cent more government contracts will be given to small firms.

13.13pm: Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds will provide £94bn of new business loans.

13.11pm: Chancellor says he is on course to sell The Tote this summer.

13.09pm: Number of civil servants in London to be cut by a third in the long term.

13.08pm: Public pay settlements to be held at a maximum of one per cent for two years from 2011.

13.06pm: Extra £4bn to fund operations in Afghanistan.

13.04pm: Fuel tax increases to be staged. 1p in April, 1p in October and 1p next January.

13.03pm: Duty on cider to be increased by 10 per cent above inflation from Sunday. Duty on beer, wine and spirits to be increased as originally planned from Sunday. Tobacco duty will rise by one per cent above inflation from today.

13.02pm: VAT, Income Tax and NI contributions unchanged.

13.01pm: One per cent increase in NI contributions to be waived for those earning under £20,000.

12.58pm: Defecit to be halved over the next four-year period the Chancellor says.

12.57pm: Borrowing for 2010-11 forecast to be £163bn and to be £100bn lower than forecast by by 2013-14.

12.54pm: The Chancellor’s growth rate for 2011 is 3-3.5 per cent.

12.53pm: ISA limits will rise in line with inflation.

12.51pm: Housing market has stabilised. Stamp Duty limit doubled for first time buyers from midnight tonight. There will be no stamp duty for first time buyers up to £250,000. But Stamp Duty will be fiver per cent for properties over £1 million.

12.49pm : No-one under 24 needs to be out of work for longer than six months before the offer of training.

12.47pm: Inactivity benefit claimant count is now lower that it was in 1997 according to the Chancellor.

12.45pm: Scrappage scheme has led to 30 per cent rise in car sales in the last year.

12.43pm: UK economy has contracted by six per cent during the recession.

12.42pm: Chancellor aims to give more people easier access to bank accounts.

12.40pm: Chancellor intends to get all taxpayers money that was invested in the banks back.

12.39pm: ‘Budget sets out a route to secure the recovery. Figures show that Northern Rock is returning to normality.’

12.37pm: Prospects for the global economy ‘better that they were a year ago’

12.35pm : He says that at the heart of the budget is a £2.5bn growth package to help small businesses.

12.34pm: He warns of tough choices ahead if the government is to bring down borrowing. The economy is at a crossroads.

12.33pm: Chancellor says right calls have been made in tackling global recession.

12.32pm: We’re off and running. The Chancellor rises to his feet.

Don’t expect too much early in the speech – the first half usually outlines the general state of the economy. Expect news on cigarettes, alcohol, petrol and stamp duty towards the end of his speech.

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