Budget 2023 live: Jeremy Hunt announces 30 hours of free childcare and extends energy bill support

PMQs was always going to be fairly mundane ahead of the Budget, but this outing seemed to have even less spice or substance than normal. While Keir Starmer got a reaction for referencing "snowflakes" wanting to cancel Gary Lineker, a frequent comment made by the more right-wing Tory MPs, the Labour leader struggled to land a clear blow on the PM. Rishi Sunak has had a good week, announcing a deal with France, Australia and the US, as well as HSBC protecting the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank, and it showed.

Sunak looked most flustered by a question from Jess Phillips, asking about a tweet from the Prime Minister saying that people entering the country illegally would be denied support from the modern slavery system. Phillips explained passionately that this would be used by traffickers to convince victims of slavery that the state will not help them.

Jeremy Hunt has started making his Budget speech. He says the UK will not enter a recession this year, "despite difficult headwinds". He says this is a "Budget for growth". You can watch the Chancellor's speech in full on this page.

Jeremy Hunt confirms that the Energy Price Guarantee will remain in place for the next three months, keeping the average annual household bill at £2,500. The Treasury had already confirmed this. Hunt says this will keep inflation down.

He also confirms that pre-payment meter customers will be charged the same as those on direct debit. Read more about the Energy Price Guarantee policy below.

NationalWorld's Money Editor, Henry Sandercock, has some analysis on the Chancellor's decision to extend the Energy Price Guarantee.

Henry says: "The three month delay to the 20% energy bills hike is welcome news. April is already set to become a major cost of living cliff edge for households, what with hefty increases to council tax, water bills, as well as mobile and broadband deals, all set to hit at once. While keeping energy costs at their current rate will ease that pressure somewhat, you may still see your energy bills rise as the £66/£67 energy bills grants the government has been paying out this winter are coming to an end after this month."

Jeremy Hunt has said he would “significantly increase the generosity of draught relief”, saying this could not be done when the UK was in the EU.

He told MPs: “From August 1 the duty on draught products in pubs will be up to 11p lower than the duty in supermarkets, a differential we will maintain as part of a new Brexit pubs guarantee. British ale may be warm, but the duty on a pint is frozen.”

Hunt said the change will apply to “every pub in Northern Ireland” due to the Windsor Framework.

He added: "British ale may be warm, but the duty on a pint is frozen."

Money Editor Henry Sandercock on Jeremy Hunt's comments about avoiding a recession: "The Chancellor says the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest economic assessment will show the UK will avoid a “technical recession” this year. You feel the word ‘technical’ may be doing a lot of heavy-lifting in that sentence. The UK’s growth remains anaemic, while the increase in unemployment revealed by the Office for National Statistics speaks of an economy that is not technically in a good place."

While we know some of the things the Chancellor will almost certainly announce on Wednesday, there are several other taxes and policies Jeremy Hunt is coming under pressure to address. Here is a quick rundown of some of the areas he may be forced to look at by Henry:

Strike settlements

While the government has been loath to bow to union pressure on public sector pay increases, it has suggested it could reform how public sector pay reviews work. It may also open up its coffers to provide backdated lump sums.

Several strikes are planned for Budget day and the government’s plans are likely to have to be generous for unions to stop the wave of industrial action that’s hit the economy since last autumn.

Tax cuts

While Liz Truss’s short reign as Prime Minister is firmly in the UK’s rearview mirror, her influence continues to be felt on the Conservative backbenches. The Conservative Growth Group (CGG) - an organisation of 20 to 30 Trussite Tory MPs who support tax cuts - has called for corporation tax to be cut from a planned 25% to 19%.

It has also been joined by the RAC in calling for a continuation of the fuel duty freeze, which is due to expire on 23 March and would add around 5p a litre to pump prices. However, given Hunt set himself strict financial targets in his Autumn Statement, any large scale tax cuts - or effective tax cuts - are unlikely to make it into his speech.

Green policies

The CBI and environmental groups, like Greenpeace, have previously urged the government to consider providing greater investment for insulation and renewable energy schemes.

Current funding pots, like the boiler upgrade scheme, have had little uptake so far and cannot be accessed by most households as they require significant funds to take advantage of. Not only would increasing support - either in the form of grants or loans - reduce the country’s carbon footprint, but it would also lower energy bills. Whether the Chancellor can find enough money within his self-imposed fiscal targets is another thing.

Read Henry's full piece here.

Jeremy Hunt has confirmed he is going to maintain the 5p fuel duty cut, as my colleague Matt Allan reported earlier today.

He said: "Because inflation remains high, I have decided now is not the right time to uprate fuel duty with inflation or increase the duty.

“So here’s what I am going to do: for a further 12 months I’m going to maintain the 5p cut and I’m going to freeze fuel duty too. That saves the average driver £100 next year and around £200 since the 5p cut was introduced.”

Read more here.

The Chancellor has confirmed the government would add £11 billion to the defence budget over the next five years.

Hunt said: “Today, following representations from our persuasive Defence Secretary, I confirm that we will add a total of £11bn to our defence budget over the next five years and it will be nearly 2.25% of GDP by 2025.

“We were the first large European country to commit to 2% of GDP for defence and will raise that to 2.5% as soon as fiscal and economic circumstances allow.”

Jeremy Hunt has announced 12 "investment zones", which he described as “12 potential Canary Wharfs”.

He said: “In England we have identified the following areas as having the potential to host one: West Midlands, Greater Manchester, the North East, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Midlands, Teesside and, once again, Liverpool.

“There will also be at least one in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

These investments zones were first announced by Liz Truss in her disastrous mini-Budget. They were originally going to give businesses tax relief, however Hunt's investment zones will be slightly different. It is thought they will focus on helping businesses in only one sector, such as technology or creative industries.

Dozens of local authorities spent money on applications for Truss' investment zones, who may have missed out this time. This was covered by my colleague Ethan Shone.