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

Labour leader Keir Starmer is responding. He accused the Chancellor of "dressing up stagnation as stability" and putting the country "on a path of managed decline". He said the UK is the worst performing nation in the G7, adding that the country has spent "13 years stuck in a doom loop" under the Conservatives.

Money Editor Henry Sandercock is looking at Jeremy Hunt's childcare policy.

Henry says: "The extension of the government’s free childcare offering to parents of younger children sounds like a generous policy. But there could be major issues delivering it. We reported last week that the level of free childcare coverage in England for kids aged under two has dropped from 57% of local authorities in 2022 to just 50% this year. It has been said the fall can be attributed to a lack of money. So, Hunt’s words will have to be backed up by funding if the policy is to get more parents back on the UK payroll as the government hopes.

"After all, his announcement will mean nothing to parents if they cannot access free childcare in their area. The fact that expanded state support for childcare will be phased in over the next two years is likely to be welcomed by early years providers. The big question is whether the hundreds of millions the government is putting up will go far enough to boost free childcare coverage."

Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, has released a statement responding to the Budget.

She said: “This Budget was a chance for the government to unlock Britain’s promise and potential.

“But instead they decided to continue papering over the cracks of 13 years of economic failure.

“The only surprise was a handout for the richest 1% and their pension pots.

“Growth was downgraded in this Tory Budget, but Labour will not allow us to keep bumping along this path of managed decline.

“With our mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7, we will create good jobs and productivity growth across every part of our country.

“Where the government has thrown in the towel, Labour will build a better Britain.”

Keir Starmer described the plans to abolish the pensions allowance limit as a “permanent tax cut” for the wealthy.

He said: “We needed a fix for doctors, but the announcement today is a huge giveaway to some of the very wealthiest.

“The only permanent tax cut in the budget is for the richest 1%. How can that possibly be a priority for this Government?”

“The truth is our labour market is the cast iron example of an economy with weak foundations. Our crisis in participation simply hasn’t happened elsewhere, not to this extent, it is a feature of Tory Britain and global excuses simply won’t wash.”

Some more analysis from our Money Editor Henry Sandercock.

He says: "Jeremy Hunt has announced a crackdown on Universal Credit claimants who don’t take up 'reasonable job offers'. The big question here is how ‘reasonable’ is defined. One sector struggling with acute labour shortages is the fruit and veg industry. They need people to pick their fresh produce - often back-breaking work that requires a base level of fitness. Could that be said to be a ‘reasonable’ job for a typical person claiming UC? More detail will definitely be needed on this policy."

One of the most contentious issues of Jeremy Hunt's Budget was the scrapping of the lifetime pension allowance. The Chancellor said this would help get people back into work, while Labour leader Keir Starmer described it as a tax cut "for the richest 1%". Former Telegraph politics editor James Kirkup described it as a regressive policy. But what is the lifetime pension allowance? My colleague Isabella Boneham explains:

The lifetime pension allowance is the limit on how much you can build up in pension benefits over your lifetime while still enjoying the full tax benefits.

The allowance applies to the total of all the pensions you have, including the value of pensions you have through:

If you go over the allowance you will generally pay a tax charge on the excess at certain times. You will get a statement from your pension provider telling you how much tax you owe if you go above your lifetime allowance. Your pension provider will deduct the tax before you start getting your pension.

IPPR North has issued a comment on the Budget from a regional perspective. Director Zoë Billingham praised further devolution in the West Midlands and Manchester, but said promises around transport and levelling up needed to be kept.

She said: "Regional growth is key to national growth – and the chancellor hinted he understands this in today’s Budget, though fell short of truly ambitious action to shift the dial on regional inequality.

"The historic trailblazer devolution deals in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands and an intention that others will follow are a huge step forward in empowering local leaders and communities. Through these, the Chancellor could set the country on a path to an upgraded form of English devolution to unleash the potential of their areas.

"12 re-shaped investment zones are an improvement on their predecessors, but Canary Wharf is a strange model for the Chancellor to point to because Tower Hamlets, where Canary Wharf is based, has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK. We need a better model than that. What’s more, it was supported by major transport and infrastructure investment – something denied to the North.

"Four years on from the promise of levelling up, with an election looming, today’s Budget was the government’s last chance to go big on regional inequality. As inequalities widen and key promises like investment in rail in the North remain broken, today’s announcements are but a shuffle forward. To speed up levelling up, we now need promises kept and ambitions to close inequalities raised even further."

The expected hike to alcohol duty appears not to be taking place, my colleague Henry Sandercock reports. Instead, the price of a pint in a pub could be set for a fall as Hunt has unveiled a draught relief scheme. The “Brexit pubs guarantee” - as Jeremy Hunt has labelled it - aims to level the playing field on price between hospitality establishments and supermarkets. But will it be enough to rescue the pubs that are closing because of sky-high energy bills and dwindling numbers of customers amid the cost of living crisis? It seems unlikely.

In the background of Jeremy Hunt's Budget, the value of the FTSE 100 - the UK's 100 most valuable companies - was dropping sharply.

Mike Owens, senior trader at Saxo, explained: "The FTSE 100 is down -2.5% in step with other major indexes as the fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse continues to reverberate around markets. Negative developments for Credit Suisse who’s biggest shareholder ruled out additional support exacerbating a rout in European bank stocks with the FTSE 100 financials sector down -4.8% on the day. Energy prices are also being hit as the demand outlook deteriorates with the energy sector falling -5%. The US dollar is gaining against the pound as it rebounds from four days of straight losses."

My colleague Heather Carrick has put together a piece explaining the main points of the Budget. She looks at what Jeremy Hunt said about alcohol duty, childcare, energy support, a recession and more.