10 quick facts about the Budget

1. The Government outlines its tax and economic predictions for the coming year in its annual Budget. 2. The Treasury is legally bound to announce two economic forecasts a year. Since 1997, the Chancellor has presented a Budget in the spring and a pre-Budget report in the autumn. The pre-Budget report provides a progress report on what has been achieved so far, an update on the state of the economy and sets out the direction of government policy in the run up to the spring Budget. 3. The origins of the Exchequer go back to the Norman period. The word "exchequer" comes from the Latin "...