Budget 2023 latest LIVE: Energy bill help extended ahead of Jeremy Hunt announcement

Pictured: Ministers arrive at the Cabinet meeting ahead of the budget

Ministers have started arriving for a cabinet meeting ahead of the budget.

Rishi Sunak will preside over the Cabinet at 8.30am before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt leaves the No. 11 at around 10.45am.

The Prime Minister’s regular questions will take place in the House of Commons at 12 noon, with the budget speech beginning immediately afterwards.

Labor will then respond with a speech of its own.

What is expected in today’s budget?

In addition to the now confirmed extension of the energy price cap, here are some other measures that are likely to be in the budget:

– Fuel tax is expected to be frozen, both for the tax levied on it and for VAT.

– An increase in the lifetime tax-free allowance (LTA) on pension savings, reportedly set to increase from £1.07m to as much as £1.8m.

– Paying parents on universal credit upfront, rather than afterwards, childcare allowance and increasing the amount they can claim.

– A tightening of sanctions for applicants who do not seek or take up employment.

– The creation of 12 investment zones – eight in England, four in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, benefiting from tax breaks, each supported with £80m over five years.

– Around £63m in money to help leisure centers with swimming pools meet energy bills and become more efficient.

– Abolition of the “prepayment penalty” on energy bills, which puts a heavier burden on households with prepayment meters than those with direct debits.

Read our full post here.

Budget day strikes begin as doctors, teachers and subway workers leave the office

In addition to the budget, a wave of strikes is dominating the news agenda today.

London Underground workers, teachers, doctors-in-training and border guards are among those disembarking.

Up to 150,000 civil servants, as well as university lecturers, are also expected to walk out in what is likely to be the biggest wave of strikes since December.

Many of the strikes were deliberately timed to coincide with today’s budget.

For London commuters it spells particular misery: TfL warns there will be “little or no” tube service throughout Wednesday.

For updates on strikes throughout the day, click here.

Extending energy price cap to save households £160

The three-month extension of the energy price cap at the current level of £2,500 will save a typical household around £160, the Government has said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We know people are concerned their bills will increase in April. To give people a little reassurance, we are keeping the energy price guarantee at its current level until the summer when gas prices are expected to fall.

“Keeping energy costs low is part of our plan to help hard-working families with the cost of living and cut inflation in half this year.”

The cap was due to rise to £3,000 in April but falling energy prices mean current levels can be extended to ‘close the gap’ until costs fall below the cap.

The energy price cap is to be extended in the budget

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of today’s budget.

The Ministry of Finance has just confirmed in the last few minutes that the energy price guarantee will be extended for another three months from April to June at the current level.

This is the average annual bill cap at £2,500.