| Chancellor Gordon Brown has delivered his pre-Budget report. Here are his key announcements, as well as the opposition parties' reaction: Economic growth Growth will be 2.1% in 2003, inside Mr Brown's 2-2.5% forecast Growth targets for 2004-5 will be 3-3.5% Britain has enjoyed its longest period of sustained growth since records began in 1870British inflation has been at its lowest for 30 years and interest rates the lowest since 1955Public spending and borrowing The new borrowing forecast for 2003 is �37bn, up �10bn on Mr Brown's prediction in his April Budget Borrowing in 2004 will be �31bn, up from the �27bn he predicted in April Sustained economic growth made Britain's investment plans affordableDebt in the UK this year and in future years will be well below 40%, meeting one of Mr Brown's "golden rules"The chancellor said he was on course for meeting his "golden rule" of balancing the current Budget and would even have a surplus of �14bn over the economic cycleAlcohol and tobacco An estimated one spirits bottle in every six is evading taxes, so bottles will now be stamped to try to curb abuse Duty on spirits will be frozen for the lifetime of Parliament Inflation and monetary policy The Bank of England will switch to using the Harmonised Consumer Price Index, used by the Eurozone, to measure inflation, instead of the Retail Price IndexUnder the new measurement system, the new inflation target will be set at 2%, but pensions and benefits will remain linked to the old inflation measureHousing Mr Brown says he will consult on a new incentive to encourage "real estate investment trusts" - to counter the shortages of private rented housing highlighted in a new report on WednesdayEnterprise The flat rate VAT schemes will be extended, especially for start up businessesThere will be a new framework of incentives for small firms, and tax relief will be enhanced to encourage businesses to invest in North Sea oil explorationTax credits for research and development will be widenedChildren The child element of child tax credits will rise by the equivalent of �3.50 a weekOver the next five years there will be more than 1,000 children's centres in BritainEmployers will be able to give staff a tax-free �50 a week for childcareJobs The windfall tax reserve, previously used for job creation, will now be used to fund training pilots, in an effort to boost skillsWithout the New Deal, youth unemployment would be twice as high and unemployed men would be 20% less likely to get a jobBritish unemployment stood at 5% - lower than every one of its competitorsSince 1997 inflation has averaged 2.3% and the numbers of jobs created exceeds 1.7m jobsWar costs So far �5.5bn has been set aside for the war on terror, with a further �500m for the Iraq conflict this year and �300m extra next year - bringing the total to �6.3bn Regions From April 2004, local authorities will receive an additional �406mSome 20,000 civil service jobs will be moved out of London and the South East to give benefits to other regionsThe government was publishing full employment plans for each region of the country for the first timePensions Mr Brown is proposing setting the tax-free lump sum at 25% of the value of an individual's pension fund and allowing older workers to draw occupational pensions The National Audit Office will do an independent evaluation before the next Budget of the idea of a single lifetime tax allowance for pension saving Sports Pointing at England's Rugby World Cup success, the chancellor promised 80% rates relief for amateur community sports clubs, as well as new exemptions from corporation taxThe government will review the Inland Revenue's treatment of football supporters' clubsEnvironment The Budget will set out measures for the next three years to encourage use of green fuels Conservative response Mr Letwin said people would need to look at the small print of Mr Brown's plans, arguing that he had failed to mention a host of problemsFamilies were being warned not to borrow too much on their credit cards, said Mr Letwin: "But you're doing the same on the nation's credit card." The pre-Budget report showed the government was taking 50% more in tax than it was in 1997Mr Brown's tax revenues had not kept pace with his over-optimistic forecastsIn the last seven years, Mr Brown has allowed bureaucracy to grow by 60%"There's very little sign that all this spending is delivering improvements on the scale that people want to see," said Mr LetwinHe questioned whether Mr Brown was putting his reputation for sound monetary policy at risk by switching his inflation measures as part of a compromise with Tony Blair over the euroDespite being the longest serving chancellor since Lloyd George, Mr Brown had lost 300 manufacturing jobs for every day he had been in the postThe chancellor was "the biggest single obstacle to reform in Whitehall"Business was paying now in lost profitability and competitiveness from "your suffocating blanket of stealth tax and red tape" Liberal Democrat response Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vincent Cable accused the chancellor of adding "a long stream of complex new tax gimmicks" to an already over-complicated tax system Experts believed there was a 50-50 chance that Mr Brown would break his "golden rule" on borrowing over the economic cycle Dr Cable urged Mr Brown to acknowledge that spiralling consumer debt could lead to an economic downturn"Why is it unfair and damaging to the economy to have a 50% tax rate on earnings over �100,000?" asked Dr Cable, pointing to the contrast against the effect of top-up fees on graduate teachers
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Property boom: key facts
Brown's speech and reaction