The opening statement from George Osborne was "Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink".

He then continued to state that tackling the budget deficit was unavoidable but the decisions which the government make were not – they were cutting the waste the country could not afford and were reforming the welfare system.

Continuing with his speech, he said the public need to ensure ‘what we buy, we can afford’ and that we ‘do not saddle our children with our interest’. (The UK pays £43bn a year in debt interest alone!)

If you missed it, the main points are as follows:

REFORM

• Next year, expenditure will be £651bn and will rising to £693bn by 2014/15.
• Debt interest payments will be lower by £1bn in 2012, £1.8bn in 2013 and £3bn in 2014.
• The government will double its savings in Whitehall, from £3bn to £6bn continuing to state that “redundancies were inevitable when the country has run out of money".

Overall, there is to be approximately a 490,000 reduction in headcount and whilst explaining that the majority of this number will come from normal turnaround such as retirement and changing of posts, the government will provide help to find alternative employment.

• The Cabinet Office budget will be reduced by £55m by 2014/15.
• The Treasury budget will be reduced by 33% and they will share department's building with part of the Cabinet Office.
• The Queen has agreed to a one-year cash freeze in the Civil List for next year. A temporary £1m funding will support the costs of the Diamond Jubilee.

FAIRNESS

• Existing social housing tenant terms and their rent will be unchanged but new tenants will be offered intermediate rents at approximately 80% of the market rent. This will bring funding for more housing builds in the future.
• Police spending to fall by 4% each year.
• George Osborne stated that he completely understands the public's anger at banks which have been so poorly regulated. The government does not want to let banks off their responsibility but must avoid driving them abroad, given the numbers they employ. To add to this, a publication will be published on Thursday to introduce a permanent tax levy on banks.

Talking of pensions, Mr Osborne stated their must be an increase in employee contributions to pension funds adding that “never again will those who worked hard all their lives be insulted with a pension increase of just 75p”. Remaining on the subject, the state pension age will reach 66 in 2020 which is four years earlier than originally planned.

• The Department for Work and Pensions must find savings from the £200bn benefit bill on top of those identified in the Budget.
• A new universal credit will replace benefits and tax credits over the next two parliaments. Meanwhile, the child element for Tax Credits will increase above indexation in 2011/12 and 2012/13
• Child benefit will be removed from families paying the higher tax rate – this alone saves £2.5bn per year

George Osborne made it clear that as the system currently stands, “It does not pay to work” and explained that benefit bills have recently soared by 45% - this was “unsustainable and unfair”. He also added that a family who doesn’t work will not receive more than a family who does work.

• The total health spending will rise each year over and above inflation from £104bn this year to £114bn over the next four years.
• Equitable Life policy-holders will receive a total payout of approximately £1.5bn starting next year – here is the help needed for those who have saved hard but lost everything.
• More great news for pensioners was that free services such as prescriptions, eye tests, TV Licences will remain – as well as an announcement that the temporary increase in cold weather payments is here to stay!

GROWTH

• Funding for adult apprenticeships will increase helping an extra 75,000 people
• A green investment bank will be set up using £1bn of funding.
• The department of Culture, Media and Sport budget will come down to £1.1bn and administrative costs are to be reduced by 41%,
• Free entry to museums and galleries is to continue.
• An agreement with the BBC means that the licence fee is frozen for the next six years.
• £30bn will be invested in transport over the next four years.
• The schools budget will rise from £35bn to £39bn and spending per-pupil will not fall. Mr Osborne suggests there are plans for a "pupil premium" for individuals from poorer backgrounds.
• Sure Start services are to be protected and there will be 15 free hours of early education and care for all disadvantaged two-year-olds.

Ending his speech, Mr Osborne states that “today’s decisions bring sanity to our public finances”.

What do you think? We’d love to hear your comments…