Date set for 2011 Budget

Next year's Budget will be delivered on 23 March.

The date was announced by the Chancellor, George Osborne as he was giving evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on the consequences of October's Comprehensive Spending Review.

Mr Osborne told the MPs: "You can put that in your diary."

The announcement is unusual in recent years in that it gives months rather than weeks of notice of the timing of the Budget.