A history of the Budget as Darling prepares his

Chancellor Alistair Darling is poised to unveil the most important Budget in decades. He is expected to confirm the recession is the worst since the Second World War, with output set to shrink by around 3 per cent this year. The Chancellor is expected to announce borrowing will soar to £160 billion this year as a result of collapsing tax revenues and the measures the Government has taken to try to revive the economy. The Government is tipped to unveil a £1 billion package to help boost the housing market, with measures ranging from an extension of the current stamp duty holiday and funding for building firms to complete mothballed developments. But the International Monetary Fund has already warned that the UK faces a £200 billion bill for the bank bail-outs - or 13.4 per cent of the entire national economic output last year. And the chancellor could be upstaged by unemployment figures due out on Wednesday. Unemployment surged over the 2 million mark last month and they are set to show another big rise, with experts predicting the total will pass 3 million next year. A long-awaited taxpayer-backed scheme to help recession-hit families avoid having their homes repossessed came into force today on the eve of the Budget. The Homeowners Mortgage Support scheme is designed to offer "breathing space" to households who have seen their income cut because of losing a job or being forced to cut working hours as the recession bites. Mr Darling is relying on cutting the cost of running Whitehall in his struggle to get the public finances back on track after his £20 billion economic stimulus package in November.

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ITN | April 21, 2009

Tags:. .upstaged. .mothballed. .repossessed. .whitehall. .taxpayer