Just two and a half hours to go until this man makes his Budget announcement in the Commons...

In a pre-budget blow to Osborne, data released today shows that the government borrowed almost twice as much as expected in February.

Reuters' Fiona Shaikh and Peter Griffiths write:

The Office for National Statistics said that public sector net borrowing excluding public sector interventions - the government's preferred measure - hit a record for the mo nth of February. It jumped to 15.183 billion pounds last month to from 8.875 billion pounds in February 2011.

This was almost twice the average forecast in a Reuters poll of 8.0 billion pounds. However, borrowing in the fiscal year to date came in at 109.957 billion pounds, down from 118.890 billion in 2010/11, and well on track to undershoot the government's 2011/12 target of 127 billion pounds.

Osborne is also expected to reveal that government borrowing will fall below 100 billion pounds in the 2012/13 fiscal year for the first time since 2008/09, thanks to a one-of f windfall of 28 billion pounds from a transfer of assets from the Royal Mail pension fund.

The ONS said February's jump in borrowing was driven by a 2.7 percent drop in tax receipts on the year, while government spending climbed 8 percent.

Income tax alone dropped 12.4 percent on the year in February, whilst net social benefits climbed 11.2 percent. The ONS said government departments tended to backload their s pending, but that had been more marked in February than last year.

The broader public sector net borrowing measure -- which includes the cost of bailing out Britain's banks, as well as some revenues from the sector -- rose to 12.909 bil lion pounds in February, up from 6.066 billion pounds in February 2011.

Good morning

Laurence Copeland is a professor of finance at Cardiff University Business School. He, along with a number of external experts, will be joining our live coverage of the 2012 Budget, providing comment and analysis throughout the day.

The consensus seems to be that today's Budget will feature a number of politically driven tax measures. Reuters correspondent Matt Falloon writes:

in a move that would please his own party, he may remove a 50 percent income tax band for the highest earners. The Conservatives say that high a levy is a barrier to aspiration, while the Labour opposition say it is a fair way to spread the pain.

To please the Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partner, Osborne is expected to raise the income tax threshold by more than previously announced to 9,000 pounds ($14,300), which may please some low and middle earners.

Government officials have also disclosed the introduction of a new 7 percent stamp duty rate on sales of property above 2 million pounds, along with an expected corporation tax cut by 2 pence to 24 pence in April.

that's what I mean - not much!

the tax threshold is excellent news, because it increases teh reward to the working middle class

it won't deter many oligarchs from moving to London, which is OK

or 25 mansions-worth of revenue

Hi. Tim Knox., Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, signing in

Labour leader Ed Miliband has released a short statement on today's Budget. He says:

“It is completely the wrong priority to cut taxes for the richest people in Britain earning over £150,000 a year.

“The Government’s economic plan is failing.

"What we need today is action to get jobs and growth moving in this country.

"What the Chancellor must do is ensure that every penny he can raise from those at the top is spent on helping millions of ordinary families who are struggling to get by."

Intriguing tweet from the BBC's This Week presenter Andrew Neil (@afneil).

He says: "Watch out for 2 Budget surprises: on welfare and corporation tax. Can't say more. But watch out, I say."

Negative surprises: the Chancellor using the £18 billion of assets in the Post Office Pension Fund to fund various infrastructure projects. The £28 billion of liabilities would be in never-never land and not show up in National Debt

there was an interesting straw in the wind the other day - a survey (sorry, I've forgotten where published or by whom) which suggested that the public's patience with non-working welfare dependents was wearing thin. Instead of getting keener on welfare in the recession, they seem to be going the opposite way: we can't afford to support so many....etc etc If the Govt has got wind of this sort of shift in public opinion, the Chancellor may be emboldened to make a few minor cuts in welfare

Hi. Patrick Nolan, of the think tank Reform signing in.

Hard to say if there will be any surprises - but I'm of the school that prefers Budgets to be boring. The Coalition needs to stick to its earlier plans rather than look for gimmicks and headlines

Fancy taking a punt on today's Budget? Ladbrokes has announced some interesting odds. This is from their website:

CHANCELLOR GEORGE Osborne is most likely to deliver the budget speech on Wednesday whilst wearing a purple tie according to Ladbrokes.

The bookies political odds compilers make purple the 2/1 favourite, with a red tie a 12/1 chance. It’s 25/1 he wears an orange tie, with white the 33/1 outsider.

The catchphrase market is always popular and given the likely tone of the speech it’s just 1/50 that the word ‘deficit’ is used. It’s also odds-on (1/5) that ‘budget for growth’ gets mentioned and ‘tough choices’ is an 1/1 shot. ‘Long Run’ is a 6/1 chance in the market with ‘Libya’ and ‘Earthquake’ both topical 3/1 shots.

Coalition partner Vince Cable is also just 8/1 to be caught yawning during the speech with Osborne 20/1 to drop the famous red briefcase.

Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: “We’re hoping Osborne reaches for a brightly coloured tie on Wednesday morning otherwise we’ll have budget problems of our own. We also think that some reference may be made to foreign affairs along with the usual talk of austerity measures.”

Good morning Ian, thanks for joining.

Morning Nick

Sam, Nick, Ian - if you were Chancellor for the day, what would be your Budget priorities?

My budget priorities would be: 1) Cutting spending significantly, especially the NHS & benefits (inc tax credits); 2) Raising the personal allowance to £12k (pegged to minimum wage); 3) Scrapping the 50p rate; 4) raising 40p threshold; 5) Legalizing & taxing drugs like cannabis, ecstasy and powder cocaine.

That borrowing number is a real wake up: and a timely reminder that we should keep our eyes on the big issues. Pre-budget kite flying on the scale of the last few days suggests to me that the government is keen to divert attention away from still-anaemic economic growth.