The Regions... Rensioners... The Euro... Employment... Housing... Iraq

For the first time, regional development agencies, including One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward, were consulted as part of preparations for the Budget on key issues of innovation, enterprise, regulatory reform and skills.

Treasury ministers also heard the views of regional industry, the voluntary sector and local authorities during a series of regional visits in the run-up to the Budget.

The Chancellor said: "We have ensured that the Budget responds to the needs and priorities of the North-East, so that people, businesses and the environment will benefit."

The growth of small and medium-sized businesses will be encouraged in 2,000 Enterprise Areas, in the most deprived parts of the country. More than 210 wards in the North-East will be included.

Mr Brown announced that they would benefit from fast-track planning approval to speed up development. Stamp duty will also be abolished to cut the cost of property.

Access to Government funds with the prospect of enhanced capital allowances will cut the cost of initial investment.

And community investment tax relief will help to reduce the cost of risk capital. Enterprise advisors will encourage entrepreneurs at local schools.

The overall aim is to increase the business start-up rate in the North-East from its current level of 19.6 per 10,000 adult population, one of the lowest figures in the country.

And there will be action to decentralise government and public services, by encouraging them to leave London for the regions, involving up to 20,000 jobs.

In addition regional venture capital funds and regional scientific industrial councils will be established to nurture and support growing technological businesses.

Dr John Bridge, chairman of One NorthEast, said: "I think this is excellent news, very much in line with the Government's commitment to decentralising and strengthening the regions."

In future, the Treasury will publish regional inflation figures to help establish regional rates and pay, and to determine regional rates of housing benefit.

In the battle to close the North-South divide, these measures are seen by some to be counter-productive as they may encourage skilled workers to leave regions like the North-East to the higher cost of living areas of London and the Home Counties.

Pensioners: PENSIONERS over 80 will be £100-a-year better off after the Budget.

The Chancellor said he was aware that the most elderly only received 25p a week above the basic level of old age pension.

In response to calls for reform, he said the winter fuel payment would be increased by £100 to £300 for households where pensioners were over 80.

And from October, all single pensioners with income below £139 a week and all couples below £203 a week will benefit from the new Pension Credit.

Single pensioners will be £15 a week better off, and couples will get an extra £20.

Mr Brown also announced the end of charges for meals and accommodation if pensioners are in hospital for six weeks or more.

Rodney Bickerstaffe, president of the National Pensioners Convention, said: "The Pension Credit will result in half the pensioner population being means-tested and having to fill in forms and parade their poverty in order to get extra money that should be theirs by right.

"Britain has the fourth richest economy in the world, yet millions of our elderly people still live below the poverty line."

Mervyn Kohler, of Help the Aged, said: "The increase of £100 per year on the Winter Fuel Payment to people over the age of 80, by way of addressing the insulting 25p per week 'age addition' will add something less than £2 per week to the income of many of the country's poorest pensioners.

"This is a very modest improvement which falls well short of what is required."

And Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern England, said: "Many pensioners won't feel the benefit of the extra cash because the money isn't getting to them. The Government's current targets for the take-up of the Pension Credit are too low and will leave a million of the poorest pensioners out of pocket."

The Euro: ALTHOUGH the Chancellor said the assessment on five tests on Britain's entry into the euro would be published in June, ahead of a Commons debate, he gave no hint of his thoughts on the single currency.

However, with Britain ahead of the rest of Europe in all economic indicators the prospects of early entry seem remote.

Increasingly, it looks as though a referendum on the euro will not take place before the end of this parliament.

George Eustice, director of the No Campaign against British euro entry, said: "Gordon Brown has paved the way for a negative assessment of the tests.

"Having said that, Britain's economic framework is delivering growth and stability, while the eurozone is suffering high unemployment and low growth; he has no option but to conclude that now is not the time to join the euro."

Eurosceptic business leaders agreed. Simon Wolfson, chief executive of Next, said: "The British economy is outperforming the eurozone with lower unemployment and faster growth. Joining the euro before the economic conditions are right would put this at risk, and the Government should rule it out."

Alan Brown, group chief investment officer and chairman of State Street Global Advisors Limited, said: "It is clear that while the economic framework we have in Britain is delivering a relatively stable economy, the euro-zone is really beginning to suffer from the effects of having to accept a single interest rate and the rigid rules of the Stability Pact."

Employment: THE Government unveiled a number of reforms aimed at advancing its goal of full employment in every region of the UK, but made it clear that the unemployed would have to try harder to find a job.

Anyone out of work for 13 weeks will have to look for a job within one and a half hours of their home, an increase of 30 minutes, and they will have to sign on the dole every week rather than once a fortnight.

They will also have to apply for more jobs, or risk having their benefits cut.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said in his Budget speech that the only route to full employment was "flexibility with fairness". He announced that local jobcentres would be given discretion to award grants for training or travelling to work interviews.

Intensive job preparation courses will be launched, as well as early entry to the flagship New Deal programme.

Lone parents will be offered an extra £20 a week to cover job search costs, rising to £40 a week when they move into employment.

Those on a typical rent of £50 a week will be able to earn £213 a week if they worked part-time, making them far better off than if they did not work, said Mr Brown.

The Government also announced plans to boost skills by contributing towards training costs if firms give staff time off for basic training.

Mr Brown said one and a half million more people were in work than when Labour came to power in 1997, leaving Britain closer to full employment than for 30 years.

Work and pensions Secretary Andrew Smith will give further details of employment measures during a Commons debate today.

John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "Though we welcome the Chancellor's commitment to look at extending the minimum wage to 16 and 17 year olds, they should be given the national minimum wage and not create a three-tier arrangement whereby they would receive less than their fellow employees."

The Chancellor also announced a pilot scheme to improve links between schools and businesses, with the appointment of new enterprise advisors who will work with secondary schools in deprived areas.

Housing: THE Budget launched a debate on the housing market in a bid to find ways to reduce its volatility.

The Chancellor announced two reviews to look at ways to increase the supply of homes and make housing finance more certain.

At the same time, he said stamp duty rates on property would be frozen.

The first review, led by Professor David Miles, of Imperial College, London, will look at ways Britain can develop a market for longer fixed rate mortgages, which Mr Brown said would be particularly important if the UK joined the euro. Fixed rate home loans are commonplace on the continent.

Mr Brown also said the supply of homes remained low and this contributed to both strong growth in house prices, and the volatility of the market.

Therefore, the second study, which will be carried out by Kate Barker, formerly of the CBI, will look at ways to reduce the barriers to new houses being built.

Mr Brown said the Deputy Prime Minister would also now be able to intervene where planning authorities were not delivering an adequate supply of new homes to help increase the stability of the housing market.

The Council of mortgage Lenders expressed reservations about longer-term fixed rate mortgages.

"Consumer appetite at the moment has been for the flexible innovative range of products lenders offer, and those lenders who offer long-term fixed rates haven't experienced massive consumer demand," said a spokesman.

An Abbey National spokesman said: "While customers already have a choice of fixed rate mortgages, there is little appetite for longer-term fixed rate mortgages. This is in part because of the rates at which we are able to buy money on the money markets means that longer-term fixed rate mortgages are more expensive than shorter term."

Iraq: THE Chancellor Gordon Brown set aside £3bn to pay for the war in Iraq. The money has been put in a special reserve available to the Ministry of Defence.

In addition there will be an extra £64m for the reconstruction of Iraq.

The new cash came on top of £240m already committed by Britain to humanitarian work in Iraq in response to a United Nations appeal for funds from the international community.

And it came as the Chancellor announced plans to overhaul aid systems to help improve the lot of the world's poorest people.

On Saturday, Britain will table a plan for a £32bn-a-year International Finance Facility at meetings of the G7 group of industrialised nations, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The Facility - first announced in December - will allow donor countries' future aid commitments to be used as security for the raising of loans on the international capital markets.

Anti-terrorism cash announced in the Budget will be spent on new equipment to detect radioactive material being smuggled through Britain's ports.

Some of the £330m handed out by Gordon Brown will also be used to improve facilities to test "suspicious substances", which could form part of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear terror strike.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the cash injection was a "welcome boost in the fight against terrorism".

He added: "It will fund a range of counter-terrorism projects which will help protect the community, reinforcing the importance Government attaches to ensuring safety and security for the public."

Housing: THE Budget launched a debate on the housing market in a bid to find ways to reduce its volatility.

The Chancellor announced two reviews to look at ways to increase the supply of homes and make housing finance more certain.

At the same time, he said stamp duty rates on property would be frozen.

The first review, led by Professor David Miles, of Imperial College, London, will look at ways Britain can develop a market for longer fixed rate mortgages, which Mr Brown said would be particularly important if the UK joined the euro. Fixed rate home loans are commonplace on the continent.

Mr Brown also said the supply of homes remained low and this contributed to both strong growth in house prices, and the volatility of the market.

Therefore, the second study, which will be carried out by Kate Barker, formerly of the CBI, will look at ways to reduce the barriers to new houses being built.

Mr Brown said the Deputy Prime Minister would also now be able to intervene where planning authorities were not delivering an adequate supply of new homes to help increase the stability of the housing market.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders expressed reservations about longer-term fixed rate mortgages.

"Consumer appetite at the moment has been for the flexible innovative range of products lenders offer, and those lenders who offer long-term fixed rates haven't experienced massive consumer demand," said a spokesman.

An Abbey National spokesman said: "While customers already have a choice of fixed rate mortgages, there is little appetite for longer-term fixed rate mortgages. This is in part because of the rates at which we are able to buy money on the money markets means that longer-term fixed rate mortgages are more expensive than shorter term."

Iraq: THE Chancellor Gordon Brown set aside £3bn to pay for the war in Iraq. The money has been put in a special reserve available to the Ministry of Defence.

In addition there will be an extra £64m for the reconstruction of Iraq.

The new cash came on top of £240m already committed by Britain to humanitarian work in Iraq in response to a United Nations appeal for funds from the international community.

And it came as the Chancellor announced plans to overhaul aid systems to help improve the lot of the world's poorest people.

On Saturday, Britain will table a plan for a £32bn-a-year International Finance Facility at meetings of the G7 group of industrialised nations, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The Facility - first announced in December - will allow donor countries' future aid commitments to be used as security for the raising of loans on the international capital markets.

Anti-terrorism cash announced in the Budget will be spent on new equipment to detect radioactive material being smuggled through Britain's ports.

Some of the £330m handed out by Gordon Brown will also be used to improve facilities to test "suspicious substances", which could form part of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear terror strike.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the cash injection was a "welcome boost in the fight against terrorism".

He added: "It will fund a range of counter-terrorism projects which will help protect the community, reinforcing the importance Government attaches to ensuring safety and security for the public."