Budget 2014: live

^{The new £1 coin}

MPs reserving their seats already

09.29 It's the hottest ticket in town...apparently. MPs have been into the House of Commons early this morning to make sure they get the best seats for today's Budget, our political correspondent Georgia Graham has pointed out to me.

Red Box Rap Battle

09.23 Sky News has commissioned a funny promo video ahead of the Budget, pitting the leaders of the three main parties against each other. It is well worth a watch.

House price boom looms in London and South East - Lib Dems

09.16 Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman in the House of Lords from 2001 to 2011 spoke to BBC News.

He warned that London and the South East are facing a "really runaway, raging house price boom" which he described as a "real problem" for people who want to get on the housing ladder.

The Chancellor's Help to buy policy was a "good idea" but it needs to be "refocused" into the regions instead of subsidising people buying expensive London houses.

Lord Oakeshott also dismissed the calls from backbench Conservative MPs to reduce the number of people paying the 40p tax rate to ease pressures on middle income earners saying that people were not being "dragged in" to the rate.

He said:

They're not dragged in - they're in that rate partly because they're saving money at the bottom. So you or I, who presumably are paying the higher rate, we're not starting to pay tax until we get to higher levels so overall we are still better off.

But the help must be focused on the people who need it. Don't forget: there are 30m taxpayers in this country and less than 5m of them pay nat the 40p or higher rate so they are not the top priority.

European markets slip in early trading

09.09 Markets have slipped into the red in early trading.

In London the FTSE 100 is down 0.34pc, in Germany the Dax is down 0.11pc and in France the Cac is down 0.36pc.

Jonathan Sudaria, dealer at Capital Spreads, says the market movements have more to do with the US Fed minutes.

European equities have opened fairly flat this morning as traders hunker down before the FOMC statement tonight. Expectations are for another $10 billion taper and markets seem quite comfortable with this but, like Mark Carney, Janet Yellen is also expected to abandon forward guidance for some form of fuzzy guidance.

As the US unemployment rate teeters near the FOMC’s threshold of 6.5pc, like Mark Carney and the MPC, she will be looking for a less restrictive monetary tightening line in the sand i.e. a way of keeping rates accommodative for as long as she sees fit.

Cost of living crisis should be priority - Miliband

08.51 Leaving his house this morning Ed Miliband was interviewed and said the "top priority" for the Budget is the cost of living crisis.

Today's going to see a contrast between a Conservative budget that claims our economy is fixed and family budgets that are £1,600 a year worse off since the general election. That's why the top priority for the Budget today has to be the so-called cost of living crisis that so many millions of families are facing.

I hope we don't see complacency from the Chancellor today, because I think so many families across the country are incredibly hard-pressed; they're seeing their wages falling, they faced 24 Tory tax rises since 2010. What I hope we see from the Chancellor is an understanding of the difficulties families are facing and a response to make life easier and better for them.

Labour attacks Conservatives for helping the wealthy

08.42 In the latest tweet from Labour, the opposition party not-so-subtly says the Conservatives have only been helping those who earn more than £150,000.

^{Source: @UKLabour}

It's not all about the Budget

08.24 I realise this is the Budget live blog, but I did just want to point out that there are some other bits of news coming out today.

At 9.30am the Bank of England will release the latest minutes from its Monetary Policy Committee - the language used will be scrutinised for any clues as to how the central bank views the economic recovery, the risks to that recovery and when interest rates may rise.

Also at 9.30am the UK's latest job stats will be out.

Over in the US the Federal Reserve is also releasing the latest minutes from its last monetary policy meeting (FOMC) - markets are expecting another $10bn taper to its monthly bond-buying programme.

Families are £1,600 worse off, says Labour

08.18 Unsurprisingly Labour will make sure the Conservatives do not get all the attention today.

The opposition party is unveiling a Budget poster in London and Birmingham today that will claim "hard-working people are £1,600 worse off with the Tories".

Labour leader Ed Miliband has taken to Twitter this morning to say just that:

While Labour Twitter feed posted:

The picture in both tweets is this (and I would also guess this is what the poster will look like):

^{Source: @Labour}

Who would make a better Chancellor?

08.10 With an election looming next year this is the last Budget in which Osborne can really make a difference.

But who do you want to be Chancellor? YouGov has done a poll as to whether the incumbent George Osborne is the preferred candidate or his rival, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, is. Results are in:

more