Growth down and debt up... but Osborne still announces £3.5bn of new spending cuts Chancellor says the economy is growing - but slower than he expected

• BUDGET 2016: LIVE

Growth down and debt up... but Osborne still announces £3.5bn of new spending cuts

Chancellor says the economy is growing - but slower than he expected

• 6 charts that show why Osborne is about to make austerity even worse
• School days to get longer as all schools forced to become academies

  Budget 2016 live: George Osborne to announce £4bn spending cuts as OBR downgrades growth forecast

  The Chancellor is expected to signal a new round of austerity measures
• Hazel Sheffield

Osborne is expected to renew his commitment to austerity Getty Images

Here are the latest updates:

• Osborne to announce £3.5bn additional public spending cuts by 2020
• But Chancellor forced to admit debt will be higher this year than expected...
• ...and OBR downgrades growth forecasts for the UK in further blow
• John McDonnell: Osborne has achieved almost nothing of what he promised in 2010 
• What is the Budget?
• How to watch the Budget live

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Cuts to disability benefits, forcing schools to become academies and adding more tax onto the price of petrol and cigarettes are just some of the measures George Osborne is expected to announce in his Budget.
A faltering stock market and slow economic growth are among the challenges the Chancellor has faced since the Autumn Statement in November.
He is expected to renew his commitment to austerity – which means further pledges to “fix the roof while the sun is shining” – and make more swingeing cuts to try and clear the UK’s deficit completely by 2020.
Here are three groups of people that look set to lose out:
Those on disability benefits may see their benefits payments reduced by £55 a week.
The decision by Ministers to remove the PIP – Personal Independence Payment – benefits from more than 600,000 disabled people over the next five years, saving around £1 billion a year, is expected to be used to cut tax for the middle-class.
Local-authority run schools may be forced to become academies by 2020, according to reports.
Academies have more powers over their own budgets, curriculum, the hiring of staff, term times, and the length of school day. But Ofsted figures analysed in 2010 showed that many academies were performing worse than other local-authority maintained schools.
Drivers, drinkers and smokers may face higher duties. Drink duties are expected to rise with inflation. An above-inflation duty is expected on cigarettes, with some reporting that cigarette packets might be given a minimum pack price.
Fuel duty is also expected to increase, putting an end to a four-year freeze. A lower oil price would soften the blow a little for drivers.
The Budget kicks off after PMQs on Wednesday. You can watch it live on Parliament.tv or at keep up with the Independent's live blog

• copy http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business