The UK will be permanently poorer if it votes to leave the European Union, with households £4,300 (€5,400) a year worse off, George Osborne has warned.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, took aim at the soft drinks industry yesterday, announcing a new tax on sugary drinks.

Disgruntled children and their parents in the UK have hit out at George Osborne's budget proposal to lengthen school days.

Cutting corporation tax will help create tens of thousands of new jobs and prosperity for all in the North, business leaders said.

George Osborne will seek to kick-start the Tory election campaign with a series of crowd-pleasing measures and promises of more to come as he delivers what could be his last UK Budget.

British Chancellor George Osborne is today expected to indicate whether the power to set business tax rates will be devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Billions of pounds of extra lending will be made available to exporters and costs cut under plans announced by George Osborne to boost Britain’s trade with emerging markets.

British Business Secretary Vince Cable has cooled expectations over Royal Bank of Scotland’s return to private ownership by signalling it may be in public hands for another five years.

The UK's Chancellor George Osborne defended his Budget today, saying the British Government had to tackle the nation’s economic problems, which “could be a lot worse”.

George Osborne insisted Britain would not “run away” from its problems after Moody’s downgraded the country’s AAA credit rating.

George Osborne admitted it was taking longer for Britain to recover from the financial crisis than he hoped today amid warnings that the Government would miss its key economic targets.

Ireland's need to cut a deal on its €64bn bank bailout was dealt a new blow today after German chancellor Angela Merkel refused to concede on legacy debt.

George Osborne faced fury from the Tory back benches today after announced Britain is to commit another £10bn (€12bn) to the IMF.

Chancellor George Osborne slashed the top rate of tax for Britain's biggest earners today, claiming that the controversial 50% rate was damaging the economy.

UK Chancellor George Osborne is putting the finishing touches to his budget today amid claims he is prepared to cut the 50p top rate of tax.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequre George Osborne was forced today to acknowledge a grim picture of declining growth and rising unemployment for the UK in the years to come.

The eurozone bailout fund will see its firepower increased to more than €1 trillion to enable it to contain the Eurozone debt turmoil, German government sources said today.

A new study has found that an average of 25 jobseekers chasing every vacancy in parts of London.

Chancellor George Osborne insisted that today’s VAT rise from 17.5% to 20% was a “tough but necessary step” towards Britain’s economic recovery.

Plans for a showdown meeting today between UK government ministers and banking chiefs have been postponed because of travel disruption caused by heavy snowfall.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen tonight flatly denied Ireland has approached Europe for emergency funds.

Shadow chancellor Alan Johnson accused the British government of taking a “reckless gamble with people’s livelihoods” which could wreck the economic recovery.

British Chancellor George Osborne has set out a four-year plan of cuts today which he said would drag Britain “back from the brink”.

Child benefit payments in the UK will be stopped for all higher-rate taxpayers from 2013 to pay for wider reform of the benefits system, George Osborne confirmed today.

The UK’s longest and deepest recession finally came to an end in the last three months of 2009, official figures showed today.

Banks will face penalties if they fail to curb “irresponsible” pay policies, the British Chancellor Alistair Darling said today.

British Chancellor Alistair Darling today acknowledged that Britain was facing the deepest recession since the Second World War as he slashed his economic forecasts.

Shareholders in Halifax Bank of Scotland were assessing their options today after the bank’s chairman said it could face nationalisation if the proposed takeover by Lloyds TSB was rejected.

British Chancellor Alistair Darling insisted it is “essential” that the banks pass on today’s 1.5% bank of England interest rate cut to customers.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown tonight said the rejection of the $700bn (€482bn) bail-out plan was “very disappointing”.

Britain’s economic downturn will be “more profound and long-lasting” than expected amid the worst global economic conditions for 60 years, Alistair Darling warned.

Royal Dutch Shell sparked calls tonight for a share of its “obscene” profits to be subject to a windfall tax after the giant hauled in £14bn (€18.8bn) last year.

At least two firm bids for beleaguered British mortgage lender Northern Rock have emerged, but taxpayers in the UK could still end up propping up the company for up to three years.

Portuguese police were forced to make an embarrassing U-turn after the parents of missing Madeleine McCann held discussions with Brtain's prime minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown, it has emerged.

Gordon Brown was confirmed as Labour's leader-in-waiting and Britain's next Prime Minister today, after winning overwhelming backing from MPs.

Tony Blair is expected to announce he is standing down as Labour leader today after a decade in Downing Street, paving the way for Gordon Brown to succeed him as British Prime Minister.

A financial package for the North does "not come up to scratch" British Chancellor Gordon Brown was warned in talks today with the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness.

Nationalist parties in the north have tonight criticised suggestions that the North's new power-sharing Executive could have an eight week gap between its first and second meetings.

GORDON Brown has made it into a list of the world’s 100 sexiest men — with the top place handed to Take That.

The British government will not get drawn into a Dutch auction on the multibillion-pound package offered to a future devolved government in the North, Peter Hain warned today.

Union leaders in the UK tonight called for a cut in British interest rates and help for manufacturers after unemployment jumped by over 100,000 to reach the highest level in three years.

Tony Blair expects progress in combating climate change at the G8 summit, Gordon Brown says in a TV interview screened tomorrow.

British Chancellor Gordon Brown today indicated that claims MG Rover bosses made millions may be part of a future investigation into the ailing car group.

The International Monetary Fund warned British Chancellorof the Exchequer Gordon Brown today that he must rein in public spending or face the prospect of putting up taxes.