Emergency Budget
After weeks of preparation, the emergency Budget is here.
George Osborne promised the government would hold an emergency Budget upon coming to power during the general election campaign. It comes just over a month after the Tories entered a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats.
The Budget has been preceded by a well-coordinated series of public statements from Cabinet ministers laying the political groundwork for cuts.
Nick Clegg, David Cameron, Mr Osborne, David Laws and Danny Alexander have all appeared at some point to tell the public the problem is worse than originally feared.
But independent calculations, from the Office for Budgetary responsibility (OBR) and the Office of National Statistics (ONS), have found that in some respects the deficit is not as bad as previously thought.
Trade unions, Labour figures and some economic experts argue that cutting spending now could dampen demand and send the UK spiralling back into recession.
