Gains and losses for mid-income family

Aifionn Evans, who lives with husband Darren, 38, and their children Finlay, six, and two-year-old Eilidh, in Hull, said they would be slightly better off in the short-term but suspected any immediate gains will be hauled back over time.

Supported mainly by Mr Evans’s salary as a university lecturer, they already keep a watchful eye on household spending, having been squeezed in recent years by rising food costs and energy bills.

They are selling their camper van to buy a more efficient car and welcomed the 1p a litre cut in fuel duty. Mrs Evans, a full-time mother, is planning to take a part-time job and will benefit from the increased personal tax allowance – but said this could be cancelled out by changes to her husband’s tax code.

Mrs Evans, 35, said: “We only do three or four thousand miles a year so it (cheaper fuel) will make a bit of difference, but the VAT on food and clothing; that’s where we have really been feeling the pinch and we are on a very tight budget because our mortgage is enormous.

“I’m planning to go back to work in September and could save £48 a year through the rise in the personal tax allowance, but they are going to raise the tax threshold by using a different index and that means my husband will enter a higher band sooner.

“Overall, I think it’s a reasonably neutral Budget.”

Mrs Evans was disappointed, however, that Hull was not included in the first wave of Enterprise Zones.