14.00: Ed’s speech was the star turn of this budget – short, sharp, funny. He did well.  Most of George’s trump cards had been too well trailed to provide any surprises, and his justification of cutting the 50p tax rate strained political logic to the extreme.

But most of the budget is in the detailed papers. Looking through the details of the figures, there are some big spending cuts in difficult areas in the £10 billion package George Osborne announced, but did not set out.  People will also see the tax cuts in their pay packet wiped out by the loss of their tax credits.  And it’s the tax credits that have kept lots of families afloat in the recession.

Andrew Tyrie, clever, acerbic chair of the Treasury Select Committee who’s speaking now, won’t be dealing with this though.

13.54: @annesnelgrove Pensioners look like being surprise big losers of #budget2012, this will come out in next few days after 50p tax fuss dies down

13.51: @amandaramsey @thom_brooks Ed Miliband did Labour proud today. Tory faces a picture.

13.47: Good attack on the Coalition for failing to generate jobs. And a very good attack on the support for the film industry – thinking Downton Abbey is  a fly on the wall documentary.

13.47: @annesnelgrove Great line about Tories thinking Downton Abbey is a fly on the wall documentary Ed Miliband #budget

13.46: Ed’s effective in his attack on Clegg and the Lib Dems.  Good quip about the party that delivered the people’s budget now supporting the millionaire’s budget. We need to make sure that people see us as the trusted alternative though, that’s our big challenge in the run-up to the next Election.

13:46: @kiramadeira Gideon looks so racked off. Ed is playing a blinder… Even Vince is LOLing

13.45: @campbellclaret Ed Miliband (or Milliband as twittertrend says) seems to be winning a lot of new admirers with Budget response, if twitter anything to go by

13.41: If you look at the papers now up on the Treasury website, you can see what is actually happening. It shows that yes, the top quintile loses the most in this budget. But the bottom quintile is the second hardest hit, and the squeezed middle continues to be squeezed.

So what Ed is saying now is right, the people in the middle lose out, the poorest lose out the most, the higher income do the best.

13.39: @benpbradshaw Strong start from @edmiliband in the most difficult response of the parliamentary calendar #budget12

13.39: @psbook Ed M says 14,000 people get a tax cut of £40k. Osborne is smiling, but Cameron looks worried #budget

13.37: Interesting that Cam supporter @ianbirrell says scapping 50p tax rate “sends missile into six years of Tory modernisation ” #Budget2012

13.36: @patmcfaddenmp Looks like BIS have lost argument for proactive growth strategy. More bits ‘n pieces and reheated stuff but no big plan. Whither Vince now?

13:35: @lukeakehurst Hope any top tax rate paying Labour supporters will donate their 5pc windfall to the Party.

13.32: Where’s the other side of the fiscally neutral budget? Earlier on there was mention of £10 billion of welfare cuts – we need to see the detail on that, and the detail on the tax credits and benefits before it’ll be clear what the impact on families will be.

13.29: There goes my child benefit.  The benefit can all be withdrawn from high earning women because we claim the benefit. I wonder how they will catch up with high earning men, though. it also sounds like the withdrawal rate will be very complex though, when they are saying they want to make the tax system simpler.

The raising of the tax free allowance sounds very good and is popular, but it will not produce the changes people think. the present measure provides £170 a year for most people – up to £220 maximum. It does not mean that they get £1,100, it simply means that this proportio of their pay is not taxed.  For low income families, the real trick is to put money in for children. that’s what lifts families out of poverty. Plus of course higher income earners get the increase in the tax threshold too.

13:28: @matt_j_little Osborne isn’t easing the tax burden on the working poor. He’s giving with his one hand and taking away with the other simultaneously.

13.27: @jamestplunkett Sounds like that was personal allowance benefits partly limited to basic rate taxpayers. That will mean 40p threshold will fall

13:25: @joshuwahwah Tories and Liberals in Government have just given 14,000 millionaires a tax cut of 45,000 pounds each

13.24: The 50p tax rate is a fairness issue. It’s about saying what side the government is on. There’s no amount of rational argument about yields, or propositions for cracking down on tax avoidance by the rich, can unpick that. Listening to George Osborne is like listening to Nigel Lawson trying to justify his measures last time round.

13.22: @MarkRusling Better to raise money through property tax than income tax. Tax work less #budget2012

13:21: @daniel_barnett P-p-p-poker face, p-p–poker face. #clegg #budget2012

13.21: @steve_race A video games industry tax break? What a marvelous idea – if only Osborne hadn’t abolished it when he became Chancellor in 2010! #uturn

13.18: It’s a nonsense to say that lowest paid are lifted out of tax – it’s only income tax. Normally a shift from income tax to taxes on consumption are regressive.  So giving people £170 through lifting the tax threshold while cutting their tax credits is not helping them. It’s particularly punitive on women who account for most lone parents and are the most reliant on the child and childcare elements of tax credits.

Doubling stamp duty for properties over £2 million sounds attractive, but it’s not going to help the many people who struggle.

13.15: Why not replace fuel duty with congestion charges? Good for rural poor, the environment and recommended by IFS mirrlees report #budget

13.13: Surprisingly after all the lobbying, there’s no change to alochol duty. But a big increase on tobacco duties. Excellent news for public health! The tax on fruit machines is something that a lot of pubs lobbied against. It’s not the problem area of gambling.

13.11: Corporation tax rate of 24 per cent.  It’s good to see incentives for business, and clever to do the levy on the banks. But he’s announced a number of tax cuts. We’ve not seen the matched spending cuts yet, which will have to be considerable to make it all add up.

13:08: @thom_brooks Transparency is more than showing where pennies are spent, but explaing why. #Budget12 #BBCBudget

13.06: The simplification of age-related allowances can be problematic if it’s linked to age 65 – bearing in mind the different retirement age for women. This is where Gordon came particularly unstuck with the 10p tax rate.  Flat rate changes to pensioners’ taxes tend to discriminate against women.

13:06: @patrickwintour Pensioners just got done.

13:06: @catch21p #Budget2012 £5.30 a week increase in pensions

13.05: @mtpennycook Sports nutrition drinks get their first mention in a budget. Might Gideon be running out of ideas?

13.05: Good move for simplifying taxes for small businesses. This should be good for the famiy businesses especially that are the backbone of many small town economies.

13.01: When I was at the old Department for Transport Local government and the Regions, we tried to reform planning laws. it was  a nightmare. Every Tory with more than one blade of grass in his (sic) garden complained.  George will need to sort out his own party and their supporters if he wants to get this one through.

13:00: @JohnRentoul What does Michael Heseltine know about stop-frame animation? #budget2012 (Might have lapsed concentration for that bit.)

12.59: Northampton should try to get this too – we have an enterprise zone, so we should have highspeed broadband to attract new industries, especially in the digital sector.

12:58: @lucytobin Cameron auditioning for a second career a nodding dog? #budget2012

12.57: Good support for individual industries, especially the film and video industries. The role of the cultural industries is very important, and valuable. He even got a good joke out of it! is Ed laughing?

12.55: “@abelardinelli: Osborne boasts about 0.8% growth this year – last year’s Budget predicted 2.5%. #Budget2012” <bam!

12.54: The fiscal sustainability is a problem for renewables. This must be one of the Lib Dem’s bits of the budget.

12.53: Investment in London transport – an end to Boris island, George Osborne is funding his mayoral election campaign.

12:53: @QueenFlo Osborne’s Party Election Broadcast for Boris #budget2012

12.53: @resfoundation £10 billion worth of cuts to be found from welfare in the future #budget2012

12.51: Comparisons with Brazil and India are problematic. Brazil , which is overtaking us as the world’s sixth largest economy, has almost 2 per cent of the world’s dollar a day poor,  India has almost a quarter.

12:51: @bradmarshall92 Tories trying to feign angry about a ‘neglected north’. Hillarious. #budget

12.49: @lucyjames01 Low interest rates don’t help young people who are trying to save #Budget2012

12.48: @JohnRentoul Osborne’s failure to buy gold earlier cost us £14.5bn. He didn’t mention that. #budget2012 http://t.co/hobQOl8w

12.47: The military spending pledge will need more scrutiny – looks like it’s better support, but for fewer servicemen, especially with the withdrawal from Afghanistan

12:46: @pmdiogo I knew the Gold would come up! Thank you Tony and Gordon for raising funds for new schools, hospitals and community spaces. #budget

12.46: @BarryGardiner Constant review of pension age means nobody knows how long they will have to work but there will be fixed term average length of retirement.

12.43: @wdjstraw Welfare spending may be a third of all spending but over 1/3 is pensions & 20% is tax credits & child benefits. #Budget

12:43: @JonnyMedland Christ, another £10bn from welfare spending by 2016? While universal credit being introduced? That’s going to hurt #Budget2012

12.42: This is preparation for privatisation. it’s the issue that is of real concern to people working there, to have their pension secured. it says nothing about the service for the public.

12:41: @SnoozeInBrief Osborne will boost Britain’s creative industries by pretending to listen to them for half an hour. #budget

12.41: These figures have been well trailed. it means that they will go into the next General Election still promising, but not having delivered.

12.39: Inflation hasn’t been the threat for some time now. What we need is growth, and he’s not set that out yet.

12:39: @HarryLangford Spending is going to be cut deeper and faster to pay for tax cuts. #budget2012

12.37: Here is the spin on our growth – we’re the same as europe and the World.  Actually it’s due to Osborne stifling the upturn with his public sector spending cuts.  Big deal – growth figures about 0.2 per cent above expectations.

12:36: @martinmccluskey Sounds like Osborne is giving a “not my fault, guv” defence #budget

12:35: @Lobbydog “The trouble is nobody believes a word you are saying” says Balls loud enough for the Chancellor to hear. #edpbudget #Budget2012

12:35: @IanAustinMP Did George Osborne bring wrong #budget speech? Hasn’t he heard unemployment at record levels & companies can’t get finance needed to invest?

12.34: Everyone gets the raising of the tax threshold. Which provides most people with about £170 a year – meanwhile people will lose in tax credits and service cuts. So that lifting of the tax threshold – although popular – is a bit of a con. 

12.31: ‘This is a budget for work’ – This is the spin – about supporting working people – shame he’s put so many people out of work, especially young people. 

12.14: This should be a benchmark budget, with clear blue water between us and the Coalition.  Tax cuts for millionaires. But the trailing will have blunted the impact. I want to look also at what they’re doing on family benefits and public spending, what the spin is on the serious public sector borrowing figures, and how it all adds up for my former constituents in Northampton.

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Sally Keeble is a former minister and former member of the Treasury select committee

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Photo: HM Treasury