Budget 2017 live - key points: Tories pivot to public spending in bid to keep out Corbyn
Follow all the latest updates as Chancellor presents his 2017 Budget
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Your support makes all the difference.Welcome to The Independent’s liveblog with coverage of the response to Philip Hammond’s Budget.
The Chancellor was forced to admit that growth and productivity forecasts had been downgraded, with the Official for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting lower growth than at any time in its history.
It comes after the UK’s finances unexpectedly worsened last month after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing – stripping out state-owned banks – jumped by £500m to £8bn in October.
Despite this, Mr Hammond used the Budget to announce a splurge of new investment, including £3bn set aside for preparing for Brexit, an immediate £350m cash boost for the NHS, a £2.5bn investment fund and £500m support for the tech industry. This can partly be seen as a response to Labour's shock performance at the polls earlier this year, which has forced the Tories to do more to address rising anger at inequality, and try to quell support for Jeremy Corbyn.
Follow the 2017 Budget as it happened below
A series of small giveaways had earlier been trailed by the Treasury, including extending discount railcards to 25-30 year-olds from next Spring and tackling overpayments of student loans.
This was a Budget in which Mr Hammond could not afford any major slip-ups. Tory MPs were nervous of a repeat of the excruciating U-turn on a key announcement in the Budget in Spring, where the Chancellor was forced to pull the plug on his plan to raise taxes for the self-employees through increased national insurance contributions after considerable pressure from Conservative MPs.
If there is any repeat of this, Mr Hammond's position in Number 11 will be very precarious indeed.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's Budget liveblog.
Chancellor Philip Hammond will attempt to tackle rising public anger over years of austerity and tightening living standards in his critical Budget statement.
Facing a darkening economic outlook and the threat of a resurgent Labour party, Mr Hammond will commit billions of pounds to schools, housing, boosting the tech industry and easing pressure on welfare claimants.
Read our top story here:
The pound was broadly steady against the dollar and the euro early on Wednesday morning, as investors and traders gear up for the Budget statement, writes The Independent's Business Editor Josie Cox.
Here's what to look our for in today's Budget, which will kick off after Prime Minister's Questions at around 12.30pm.
Meanwhile, Labour has been imagining some of the conversations behind the scenes.
GMB Union has sent a group of 'Maybots' and a Gothic Chancellor to protest outside Downing Street against the public sector pay cap.
Theresa May is currently chairing an early-morning Cabinet meeting where ministers will be given a run-through of the Budget. Arriving in Downing Street as dawn broke, some looked happier than others about the early start...
Some reports suggest today's Budget could have wider implications than simply the changes announced in the statement.
It is widely believed that Theresa May had been planning to sack Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, after June's general election, but the unexpected result left her too politically vulnerable to do so.
According to The Sun, the Prime Minister fears Mr Hammond would launch a coup from the backbenches if she moves him - as Geoffrey Howe famously did to Margaret Thatcher.
Should today's Budget prove disastrous, however, the paper says Ms May might feel she has no choice but to take that risk...
Might the public sector pay cap be lifted? Will the Government show it's serious about funding new homes? Could there be a big announcement on welfare cuts? Don't miss our Economics Editor Ben Chu's must-read guide to what to look out for in today's Budget:
There's usually a last-minute rush at the Treasury to get the Budget finalised, signed off and printed in time.
In his book Power Trip, Damian McBride, Gordon Brown's former spin doctor, recalls a huge Treasury budget spreadsheet that is tinkered with until the last minute.
One photo taken in Downing Street in the thick of last night suggests Mr Hammond may have been hard at work well into the early hours. Either that or Freya the Number 11 cat doesn't like the dark.
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