16/03/2016 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten - the storm clouds are gathering again,

says the Chancellor, but he insists that today's

Budget puts Britain in a strong position.

Mr Osborne's red box contained gloomy news on growth,

productivity and borrowing, but he did unveil some tax cuts

The outlook for the global economy is weak.

It makes for a dangerous cocktail of risks, but one that Britain

is well prepared to handle if we act now so we don't pay later.

The response from the Labour leader was uncompromising.

The entire Budget, he said, was based on six years of failure.

He's failed on the budget deficit, failed on debt, failed

on investment, failed on productivity, failed on trade

deficit, failed on the welfare cap, failed to tackle inequality

And a decision to introduce a new levy on sugary drinks

is welcomed by those who say it's vital to fight childhood obesity.

No-one likes tax, right, but this is a tax for good.

This is a tax that will have ripples across the world.

We'll be considering the impact of the Budget on business

and households, and asking where the greatest burden will fall.

We are going to win, win, win, and we are not stopping. We are going to

have great victories for our country. Thank you very much

everybody. Donald Trump steps closer

to the Republican presidential nomination and warns there'll be

riots if there's any attempt And a difficult night for Arsenal

in their Champions' League And coming up in Sportsday on BBC

News: Could Arsenal upset the giants of Spain and pull off a comeback

that would win them a place Against a backdrop of slowing

economic growth, falling productivity and weaker public

finances, the Chancellor, George Osborne, has

delivered his eighth Budget. He unveiled a series

of giveaways to small firms, And he produced an eye-catching

measure - to tackle levels of obesity among children

and young people. But the big picture was dominated

by the latest forecasts on economic But Mr Osborne says Britain is still

ahead of other major economies. There were changes

on personal taxes. From next April people

will start paying income tax And that eye-catching measure -

a new levy on sugary drinks, expected to raise around

?500 million a year. More on that in a moment,

but first our political editor Where's the sunshine, Chancellor?

Hold your nerve, the contents of the box say we are all well off than we

thought. Hold your nerve, he's decided to keep cutting spending for

years to come. And hold your nerve, because the sun that he promised is

absolutely behind the clouds. Productivity growth cries the West

is too low, and the outlook for the global economy is

weak. It makes for a dangerous cocktail of

risks. The economy's in better shape than our rivals but growth is

slowing down, so the Government will borrow billions more than planned.

But by 2020, to stick to George Osborne's rule, the books should be

back in the black. Not everyone believes the Chancellor will hit

that political target but his backbenchers were happy to cheer it

today. CHEERING. But listen...

Five-year-old children are consuming their body weight in sugar every

year. MPs shushed each other. Then grew quieter and quieter. One of the

biggest contributors to childhood obesity... To hear the big surprise.

I'm not prepared to look back at my time here in this Parliament doing

this job and say to my children's generation, I'm sorry, we knew there

was a problem with sugary drinks, we knew it caused disease, but we

ducked the difficult decisions and did nothing. Today we'll introduce a

new sugar levy on the soft drinks industry. One of the best known

campaigners for the sugar tax sped to Westminster. Jamie Oliver could

scarcely believe it. This counts as a result. But the sugar tax

shouldn't distract from some bold redrawing in this Budget. A totally

new kind of saving for old age, big changes to business taxes and

another freeze on fuel duty. As ever, it is only when the Budget

gets picked over the big picture becomes clear. There are big changes

to tax and spend too. ?3.5 billion of extra cuts. Lower corporation tax

on business profits. And by the next election, higher income tax

thresholds, so millions of workers paying less tax. That's one way to

please those grumpy Tory MPs. A typical basic rate taxpayer will be

paying over ?1,000 less income tax than when we came into Government

five years ago, and it means another 1.3 million of the lowest paid taken

out of tax altogether. Social justice delivered by Conservative

means. CHEERING. He needs those supportive

voices, because right now the Tories are vying with each other to get you

on their side in the EU referendum. And some are peeved because Mr

Osborne used evidence from the neutral Office for Budget

Responsibility to back his case for staying in. Britain will be

stronger, safer and better off inside a reformed European Union.

And I believe we should not put at risk all the hard work the British

penal have done to make our economy strong again. And there it was, his

main claim, that as Chancellor he truly has the whole country's

interests at heart. This is a Budget that gets the investors investing,

savers saving, businesses doing business, so we build for working

people a low-tax, enterprise Britain, secure at home, strong in

the world. I commend to the House a Budget that puts the next generation

first. CHEERING. In total contrast to his

colleagues' congratulations the Labour leader was having none of it.

Failed on the Budget deficit, failed on debt. Failed on investment.

Failed on productivity, failed on trade deficit, failed on the welfare

cap. Failed to tackle inequality in this country. Flagging the most

sensitive and the biggest cut of all, lower payments to some people

with disabilities. Accusing Mr Osborne of trying to balance the

books on the backs of the most vulnerable of all. Well, 500,000

people with disabilities are losing over ?1 billion in permanent, in

personal independence sonal independence payments, co-operation

tax -- corporation tax is being cut and billions handed out in tax cuts

to the very wealthy. And there were plenty of other opposition

politicians queuing up to condemn the Budget. It confirms the failure

of George Osborne, debt, deficit, borrowing, everything pushed back.

It's been abject failure from start to finish. In many ways what the

Chancellor is doing is making it more likely we'll have another

recession rather than theory salience for the longer term. His

carefully crafted ambitions don't doubt there are plenty of them

hanging around. As we heard, the prospects

for economic growth are rather less encouraging than they were

just a few months ago. Mr Osborne in effect blamed

the global economic situation for the changed forecasts on growth,

debt and productivity, and he warned of 'storm

clouds gathering again'. Our economics editor Kamal Ahmed

is here with his take Today the Chancellor had a trickier

hand to play than he expected four short months ago. He disguised some

of that with eye-catching policy announcements such as the sugar tax,

but he knows the economic fundamentals are looking less

healthy and there is one major reason for that. It's about the way

we work. George Osborne likes to talk about a

cocktail of dangers facing Britain, a cooling global economy,

cocktail of dangers facing Britain, in China. Throw in a collapse in the

cocktail of dangers facing Britain, oil price and it can seem a toxic

mix. The effect, economic growth is slowing. Last year the forecasted

growth rate was 2.4%. That number was downgraded today to 2%. And the

Government's economic watchdog put that largely economic watchdog put

that largely down to one issue - productivity. The amount of output

each workers produces per hour. If that's not going up as fast as

hoped, then earnings aren't going to go up as fast as hoped, the economy

isn't going to grow as fast. Tax revenues aren't going to come in.

That's the big change. That's what we in. That's the big change. That's

what we all -- what we ought to be taking about, because it really

matters not just for the chill but how well off all of us are. How does

the Chancellor propose to deal with the problem of lower growth and

still produce a Budget surplus by 2020, a fiscal rule he claims he

won't break? This graph shows the Government will borrow more over the

next four years. With that amount of borrowing higher than expected, and

falling more slowly. Now, that borrowing figure the Treasury

predicts will still turn despite all the economic gloom into a ?10.4

billion surplus the following year. Just in time for the election.

Reaching that target will be harder given that Mr Osborne announced some

give aways and they cost money. Here are some of the biggest ones.

Firstly increasing income tax thresholds, except in

Scotland, will cost ?2.5 billion. And cutting small business rates

will cost ?1.4 billion. Give aways to begin with and

takeaways in 2019-20 and 2 year after. Those are

the years tore which the Government has a target to achieve a Budget

surplus. What's striking is we really do have

quite a big squeeze taking place in 2019-20 itself. Now, that big

squeeze is how Mr Osborne proposes to hit that surplus by 2020,

introducing a raft of revenue-raising measures. He

proposes to find ?3.5 billion in efficiency savings from Government

departments. And disability benefit cuts will save another ?1.3 billion.

And then there is a verd then there is a very big ticket item - the

majority of corporation tax changes will kick in that year, leaving

larger businesses with a tax bill of ?7.9 billion.

That's quite a cocktail, and the financial watchdog says there is

only a 55% chance of the Treasury even hitting the target. Last year,

George Osborne had three rules on the economy.

He would cap the welfare Budget, a rule that was abandoned last year.

He would bring down debt as a share of national income. A rule that was

broken today. Me. A rule that was broken today. He

a Budget surplus by 2020, and it seems he is prepared to tax more and

cut more to achieve that. Even if there is some scepticism that he

will ever get there. The biggest Budget surprise for many

was the Chancellor's decision to impose a new levy

on sugary drinks. There will be two bands -

one for drinks with above 5 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres,

including some cordials and flavoured waters,

and a second band for those Most colas will fall

into this category. If the manufacturers pass

on the cost to the consumer, it could add between 18 pence and 24

pence to a litre bottle, as our health editor,

Hugh Pym, explains. It was a big surprise and it

could hit many people's pockets. Today these shoppers were working

out what the new levy adding possibly 80% to the price of a large

unbranded bottle of cola might It will stop the kids from keeping

on going to the shops, keep on buying all the fizzy

drinks all the time. The cost to the NHS

and the dentist all the time. At the end of the day they're

enjoyable but they are bad, so... Some well-known campaigners

on the issue were hurrying No-one likes tax, right,

but this is a tax for good. This is a tax that will have

ripples across the world. Canada, Australia, New Zealand,

pull your finger out, Excluding milk-based sugary drinks

it's likely to be passed The industry argues such a move

is not the way to tackle obesity. I think it's very unfair and ironic

almost that the soft drink manufacturers, who've been

in the vanguard of reformulation, of making their products more widely

available with great choice, should be the ones penalised

through this measure. The Chancellor says the proceeds

will be spent on school It is up to Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland how The move comes at a time

of increasing concern about obesity There is already a strain on the NHS

and problems often develop About 10% of four and five-year-olds

in England starting off at school By the age of 10 and 11 that figure

has gone up to 19%. When it comes to adults,

25% are obese. Treating conditions linked

to obesity costs the NHS in England ?5.1 billion in the

last financial year. To put that in perspective,

the cost of treating smoking related diseases, including lung

cancer, cost ?3.9 billion. All of that came out of a total

health budget of ?113 billion The levy will raise just

?500 million a year. Even so, the head of NHS England

says it will help improve children's health and he says it's just one

of a series of measures to be It's part of a much broader,

comprehensive strategy that we need, but also we'll have to take account

of promotions and advertising So together we think that these

measures will substantially tackle the problem that we've got

of childhood obesity. Health campaigners hope this

is a game changing moment, but there's a lot of detail

still to be worked out and there'll be intense

debate about how the levy Today's Budget did contain a wave

of measures aimed at business, giving more help to small firms,

especially in the crucial area but asking big companies to make do

without some of the tax breaks that Our business editor,

Simon Jack, has been looking The Chancellor served up some good

news for business underdogs today. Small businesses, like this

cafe in Sunderland, were licking their lips

at the prospect of saving real money from a cut to the burden

of business rates. Hundreds of thousands of small

companies in England will pay no One of the best things that I've

heard from the Budget is the increase in the small

business rate relief which, hopefully, for a business

like ours, will take us out Some of it will go towards staff

wages and maybe we'll But there's no such thing as a free

lunch and the ?7 billion boost to small business will be paid

for by a ?9 billion raid Up until now, big firms

and multi-nationals have been able to reduce the tax they pay

by taking off borrowing costs The amount of profit they can shrink

this way will now be limited. Now, some sectors use a lot of debt

financing and this limited ability to offset the debt interest payments

against profits will hit some sectors, like commercial

construction, very hard. The British Property Federation

is warning that that The banks have used some

of their previous big losses - remember them - to minimise

tax bills and that will So will the Chancellor's new,

more aggressive approach to collecting tax work better

than his patchy record? I think by setting in place system

changes, it's much easier to see that those are more likely to be

effective than just trying to plug the odd, sort of, weird loophole,

where it's quite tricky to understand - are people

using it, is it effective? The financial backdrop,

whether you are big or small, That makes life difficult

for all businesses, just like it has Among the other measures announced

by the Chancellor today were investments in infrastructure,

especially in road and rail There's an extra ?700 million

for flood defences. There's a commitment to introduce

elected Mayors for English counties The Chancellor confirmed that

all schools in England are to become Academies, taking them out

of local authority control. Our political editor,

Laura Kuenssberg, is in Downing What do you think the longer term

goals are now? You are right, the overwhelming backdrop to this is the

Government's strongly held desire, and fear really, that they have to

win the European referendum on June 23rd. They can't afford to lose that

or else all their careers, all bets might be off.

George Osborne's own leadership ambitions, both of those two reasons

he didn't want to do anything today that would really upset his

Conservative backbenchers or would really upset middle England. I think

in a sense this was another step along the road in his big political

project, nail the Conservative Party to capture those swing voters in the

middle, to truly become as he would suggest the party of ordinary

working families. One suggest the party of ordinary

to me today this was a good Budget for the middle class. But there are

plenty of people who want to stop George Osborne achieving that goal.

Laura, thank you. If you want to find out more

about the Budget and how it affects your financial

circumstances, you can use the BBC's In America, the frontrunner

for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump,

has warned of riots if he's Mr Trump has strengthened his

position after winning the latest primaries in three states,

but he lost in the key state of Ohio, meaning he could still fall

short of the support he needs. In the Democratic race,

Hillary Clinton extended her substantial lead over rival

Bernie Sanders with wins Our North America editor,

Jon Sopel, reports. He's young, articulate,

telegenic and Hispanic, but Senator Marco Rubio

is also a loser. Last night the great hope

of the Republican establishment was crushed in his home state

of Florida by the Donald Trump While it is not God's plan that

I be president in 2016, or maybe ever, and while today my

campaign is suspended. The fact that I've even come this

far is evidence of how special Donald Trump made impressive

gains last night. He's now halfway to getting

the number of delegates he needs to win outright and is way

ahead of his main rivals. He's achieved it, not by wooing

the traditional republican base, but by bringing new

support to the party. We have a great opportunity

and the people that are voting are Democrats are coming in,

independence are coming in and very, very importantly, people

that never voted before. Donald Trump has had an emphatic

victory here in Florida. But perhaps the most striking thing

about tonight is what has happened It was to this man, the State

governor, John Kasich, a moderate Republican whose now

vowed to carry on his fight We are going to go all the way

to Cleveland and secure But the path is strew

with more than confetti. John Kasich staying in the race

means the anti-Trump vote is now split between him

and Senator Ted Cruz. What looks certain is that

Donald Trump is going to arrive at the convention with way more

delegates than anyone else, but potentially short

of the majority that he needs. This is where politics

clashes with arithmetic. Arithmetically, yes,

it would be possible for the Republican establishment

to do a stitch-up and put someone else in but, politically,

it would be explosive and Donald Trump has warned

that if that happens, A threat the authorities

are taking seriously. If we win in November,

I know our future will be brighter Her path to the nomination seems

less complex and already her advisers are war gaming the next

battle - how to take on Donald Trump, her most likely

Republican opponent. Jon Sopel, BBC News,

Palm Beach, Florida. A brief look at some

of the day's other news stories. A man shot dead by the police

in Brussels yesterday has been identified as an Algerian national

who was living in Belgium illegally. The raid was linked

to the investigation into the attacks in Paris that

killed 130 people last November. Police say that they found

an assault rifle, the flag Islamic State group,

and a book of extremist literature The European naval force that's

targeting migrant smuggling gangs in the Mediterranean says there's

been a sudden increase in the number of boats crossing

from Libya to Italy. These pictures, given

to the BBC by the Royal Navy, show some of the migrants

rescued earlier today. Hundreds have been rescued

in the past few weeks and many more are expected as the

weather improves. Arsenal have been knocked out of

the Champions League by Barcelona. They'd travelled to the home

of the Spanish Champions, A rainy night in Barcelona, Arsenal

to overturn a two-goal deficit. A rainy night in Barcelona, Arsenal

may have wished their opponents had stayed indoors. The defending

champions are a daunting prospect. Unbeaten since October, with one of

the best attacking lineups in history. When this team click into

gear, it takes something special to stop them. 2-0 down from the fist

leg, Arsenal's climb would become steeper. Messi, Suarez and Neymar

have combined for 103 goals this season. Their 104th rooked almost

routine. Under pressure more than ever, Arsenal's chances had been all

but Brit written off except by them. Their effort was rewarded. Elneny's

first goal for Arsenal. The first sign of hope. Their revival was

brief. Even in the Champions League, Barcelona play for fun. The Nou Camp

is a playground for Luis Suarez. There was still time for them to toy

further with Arsenal as Messi, who else, completed the game. Arsenal's

Champions League journey is over. Barcelona's bandwagon rolls on to

the quarter-finals. Katie Gornall, BBC News.

A last look at the Budget tonight, this time focussing on measures that

could affect families and young people throughout the UK.

On savings, there'll be a new Lifetime ISA,

specifically for the under-40s and the Government will top-up

On duties, the tax on beer, cider and spirits will be frozen.

But tobacco duty will rise by 2% above inflation.

Reeta Chakrabarti has been getting reaction to the measures

at Stockport College in Greater Manchester.

"We are the builders", declared the Chancellor,

and young adults learning the bricklaying trade

17-year-old Harvey is keen to get on.

He's interested in George Osborne's proposed Lifetime ISA,

encouraging young people to save by giving them ?1 for every

You've got different types of ISAs you can put your money away in.

So you can start saving up for things that you need in life,

Just building up that money to get you off in life.

I now call the right honourable George Osborne,

He's one of a group the Chancellor repeatedly name checked,

the next generation, the focus of today's Budget

George Osborne's next generation should be in optimistic mood

The north-west of England has, he says, the fastest growing rate

of employment in the country, but it's not that straight-forward.

18-year-old Hayley has been listening to the message too.

She harbours big ambitions, she's training to be a chef

while working part-time and she wants to own her own business.

She likes the idea of being helped to save, but...

The money that I do make, I have to use it for public

transport, also buying food for myself during the week.

At the end of the day, it's a good decision,

but it's how - are you going to start saving, if you don't

have the money to start saving with in the first place?

Dominic Smith used to be a teacher, now he's retraining as a plumber.

For him, raising the threshold at which people pay tax to ?11,500

I think for workers it's a good thing to be able to know that a bit

more of your money you've earnt will go into your own pockets and,

hopefully, boost the economy by spending it the way that

But for car owners and anyone paying insurance, it was a different story.

The tax on premiums will go up by 0.5%, a smaller increase

than expected, but it comes on top of a bigger hike last year.

I'm not happy at all because that does affect me because I'm a car

owner, I'm a homeowner, you know, I have a mortgage to pay.

I'm trying to stand on my own two feet, I have done all my life,

and I do find that slightly frustrating.

Forging a vision for the country that echoes people's personal

ambitions is what Chancellor's attempt on Budget Day.

George Osborne will hope what he's produced is suitably joined up.

Reeta Chakrabarti, BBC News, Stockport.

Just time for a last word with our economics editor,

I think Huw, it has been a long day, a significant one. Not just a policy

risk, but a political risk - is this issue of the Budget surplus. The

downgrade in economic growth today was more significant than normal

downgrades because it was based on our failure on the issue of pro

ducktivity. The policy is to change pro ducktivity take as long time.

You That's long-term. Getting productivity up will take a long

time. The second big area of risk for the Chancellor and for the

Government is this big bet on 2019 and 2020 when everything will come

together. The tax cuts, the tax rises will come in, the public

sector cuts will also come in, meaning that he can hit this Budget

surplus. They are heroic in terms of what he's trying to achieve in that

final year. If he doesn't do that he will fail on his final fiscal rule.

He missed two, he has that third one. Can he hit that 2020 target.

Thank you very much. . Kamal Ahmed on the final word on the Budget

today. Newsnight is coming up

on BBC Two in a few moments. There were quite a few missed

targets in the Budget today, so we'll be delving

into the excuses. Join me now on BBC Two,

11.00pm in Scotland. Here, on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.