Alistair Darling will announce the Budget on 24 March Chancellor Alistair Darling has warned people not to expect a "giveaway" when the government's Budget is announced later this month.Speaking to the BBC, Mr Darling said that the Budget would be "sensible" and "reflect the times in which we live". He reaffirmed his commitment to halve the country's budget deficit over a four-year period. But he said the government would continue to spend money to support the economy and keep people in jobs. The Budget will be unveiled on 24 March, with a general election widely expected to be called for early May. "I don't think anyone's expecting some sort of Christmas-tree-of-a-Budget. They're not going to get anything like that," Mr Darling told the BBC's chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym. "What you're going to get is a sensible Budget, a Budget for the times in which we live, a Budget for the future of the country." Recession riskHe called his plans to cut the budget deficit over four years "non-negotiable", arguing that making faster cuts would be harmful to the economy.[Read more...]