Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Budget 2015: No ‘spectacular giveaways’ in budget

Vince Cable
Vince Cable

There will be no “spectacular giveaways” in George Osborne’s final Budget before the general election, business secretary Vince Cable has said.

Mr Cable was speaking after an early-morning Cabinet meeting at which Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers signed off a package expected to include a hike to £11,000 in the income tax personal allowance and moves to scrap unpopular annual tax returns.

Mr Osborne’s sixth budget statement is being unveiled against the backdrop of new figures showing numbers of jobless falling by more than 100,000 to 1.86 million – the lowest since summer 2008 – while employment soared to a record of almost 30.1 million.

Welcoming the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The highest employment rate in our history is not a dry fact. It means more people with the security of a pay packet and a brighter future.”

Mr Cable stressed that Mr Osborne’s Budget has been agreed across both Conservative and Liberal Democrat sides of the coalition.

But he highlighted growing divergence between the two sides of the Government as he revealed the Lib Dems will set out “a separate budget trajectory” for the next parliament tomorrow, featuring higher tax rises than envisaged by their Tory partners.

Chancellor George Osborne has said: “Today we set out the next stage in a plan that is working, with a Budget that works for you. We will deliver a truly national recovery.”