Budget 2018 - LIVE: Hammond announces end to PFI and ploughs extra £1bn into troubled universal credit
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Your support makes all the difference.Philip Hammond has reiterated Theresa May's claim that the era of austerity is "finally coming to an end" in his last pre-Brexit Budget.
The chancellor unveiled a new "UK digital services tax" aimed at tech giants, which are profitable and generate at least £500m a year in global revenues.
Promising a Budget for "Britain's future", Mr Hammond also earmarked an extra £1bn for the Ministry of Defence and set out the government's plan for the NHS, including £2bn per year for mental health services.
In addition, he said the government would never sign another private finance initiative (PFI) deal, long criticised for locking the taxpayer into hugely expensive infrastructure contracts that enrich private firms.
He also promised an additional £1bn for the implementation of universal credit, which also faces widespread criticism for pushing vulnerable people into homelessness and food bank dependency.
See below for live updates
The news of a new 50p coin to mark Brexit has drawn plenty of comment on social media.
Here we round up some of the best reaction:
Ahead of the Budget this afternoon, Downing Street has insisted all the spending commitments to be announced are “funded irrespective of a Brexit deal”.
The comments follow the chancellor’s warning that he will have to review spending if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal – and hold an emergency Budget next year.
There has been tension between No 10 and Philip Hammond about whether the prime minister’s pledge to end austerity depends on getting a Brexit deal – with a more-cautious Treasury hinting it does.
Theresa May’s spokesman denied there was a disagreement, saying: “All of the spending commitments that the chancellor will set out today are funded, irrespective of a deal.”
However, the key point is that the prime minister has not promised that austerity will end with today’s Budget, pointing instead to a “long-term approach” in next summer’s spending review.
Labour is certain to leap on the fact that cuts pencilled in for the next financial year – to councils and benefit claimants, amongst others – will continue until at least 2020, without action today.
No 10 did agree with Mr Hammond that another Budget is possible next year if there is a no-deal Brexit, suggesting it would be the chancellor’s call.
“If the economic circumstances change, then we would consider economic interventions,” the spokesman added.
German chancellor Angela Merkel announces she will step down in 2021, in a move that could tip the balance of power in Europe.
More from our Europe correspondent Jon Stone:
Back to the Budget now, as our Business Editor Caitlin Morrison has set out what we can expect from Philip Hammond at the despatch box this afternoon.
Read her helpful explainer here:
MPs have been queuing up since this morning to get seats for the Budget, by laying down a prayer card. Tory MP Robert Halfon compared the practice to putting towels down to save a deckchair at the beach.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has said resolving problems in the roll-out of universal credit should take priority in the budget over infrastructure projects.
It followed a call by a widow to Nick Ferrari on LBC who claims working tax credit but expects to lose about £300 a month under the new system because some of her income comes from her late husband's occupational pension.
Mr Rees-Mogg said: "Universal credit is a good system in that it helps people into work and means that work always pays, and that is the most successful route out of poverty, but to have a system that takes £300 a month out of people's pockets, particularly widow's pockets, shows that there is a failure in the implementation.
"I can only apologise and say that as somebody who voted for the Universal Credit, I'm very concerned that it's working in this way and what you highlight, and what listeners will be hearing today, will make many people think that some reform needs to be made to ensure this doesn't happen, and to recognise that if there is money available to be spent in this budget, sorting out problems like the one you refer to would be my priority, even over and above adding to the roadbuilding projects."
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has insisted that flights between the UK and EU will not be grounded after Brexit despite admitting that talks on route access have not begun.
He told a gathering of UK airport bosses that the "process is not in our hands".
The single market for aviation, created in the 1990s, means there are no commercial restrictions for airlines flying within the EU.
The continuation of flights between the UK and the EU after Brexit will require either a fresh deal with the European Commission or bilateral agreements with individual countries.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Airport Operators Association, Mr Grayling said: "I have had plenty of talks with both the Commission and other transport ministers.
"We will start formal talks as soon as they are willing to start formal talks. As I sit here today, they haven't been.
"But I haven't met one single person either in the Commission or a member state who believes there will be an interruption to aviation."
Mr Grayling noted that Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, who has repeatedly claimed flights could be grounded, is "selling tickets for next summer and expanding the number of routes between the UK and the European Union".
He went on: "There is no way that flights will stop between the UK and the EU after March."
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