The Chancellor said that five years ago, with the country still reeling from the financial crash, the job was to rescue the economy. Now he believed it was his priority to rebuild Britain.
Mr Osborne conceded that world growth forecasts had been revised, in part because of ongoing problems in the Eurozone. In the UK, the economy is expected to grow a little faster than originally predicted over the next two years, before slowing down somewhat towards the end of the decade.
Higher than expected tax revenues and lower interest payments on government debt had handed the Chancellor more flexibility than many analysts expected ahead of the speech.
The deficit is forecast to be 3.9 per cent of national income this year, with the first surplus expected in 2019-20.
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