Chancellor Alistair Darling today delivered his second Budget, a full transcript can be read here, however the main announcements are listed below

• Supporting people back into work with an extra £1.7 billion in Jobcentre Plus.

• Supporting 18-24 year olds with a guaranteed job, training or work placement for all who reach 12 months unemployment.

• Supporting pensioners with an additional payment alongside the Winter Fuel Payment worth £100 for households with someone aged over 80 and £50 for households with someone aged over 60

• Supporting savers by raising the tax free Individual Saving Accounts (ISAs) limit to over £10,000.

• Supporting families with children by increasing the Child Tax Credit by £20 a year from April 2010.

• Supporting those made redundant by increasing statutory redundancy pay to £380 per week.

• Supporting homeowners with a £600 million funding package to build more homes through unlocking sites currently sitting dormant

• Supporting the housing market by extending the stamp duty holiday to the end of the year for properties under £175,000.

• Supporting business by extending the Business Payment Support Service to help businesses experiencing short-term cash-flow difficulties.

• Supporting the automotive industry by enabling people who scrap vehicles older than ten years to replace them with new vehicles at a discount of £2,000.

The scrappage scheme supporting the automotive industry is particularly welcome here on Merseyside and will benefit the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port and the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Halewood as well as the numerous firms supplying those plants, a similar scheme is operated with great success in Germany.

David Cameron’s Conservatives do nothing but talk Britain down and shockingly some Conservatives even appear to be enjoying the recession.