Budget 2015 key points: At-a-glance summary

Tax credits and Universal Credit to be restricted to two children, affecting those born after April 2017.



Income threshold for tax credits to be reduced from £6,420 to £3,850

Working-age benefits to be frozen for four years - including tax credits and local housing allowance, but maternity pay and disability benefits exempted

Rents in social housing sector will be reduced by 1% a year for the next four years.

Subsidies for social housing will be phased out with local authority and housing association tenants in England who earn more than £30,000 - or £40,000 in London - having to pay up to the market rent

Disability benefits will not be taxed or means-tested while state pension triple lock to be protected

18-21-year-olds will not be entitled to claim housing benefit automatically, with a new "earn to learn" obligation

Employment and Support Allowance payments for claimants deemed able to work to be "aligned" with Jobseeker's Allowance for new claimants

Green Paper published on proposals for "a radical change" to pension saving system

Annual tax relief on pension contributions to be limited to £10,000 a year. The amount people can contribute to their pension tax-free to be reduced for individuals with incomes over £150,000, including pension contributions.

The cost of funding free TV licences for the over-75s will be transferred from the government to the BBC between 2018 and 2021

The annual household benefit cap will be reduced to £23,000 in London and to £20,000 in the rest of Britain.

There are few surprises there but a lot of vagueness. The devil will be in the details when they're finally revealed.

As the picture depicts, smoke and mirrors.

Frankly, I trust that man about as far as I could throw him.

The media swallowed the bait of the "National Living Wage" which in reality is only 20p an hour more than a National Minimum Wage rise which was already planned whilst totally ignoring cuts which are more than double that. Many of these cuts will hit Daily Mail reading Tory voters.

There are also a huge number of ambiguities and contradictions in the chancellor's statement which analysts have yet to decipher.