UP go the price of beer, wine, cigarettes and petrol and down come income tax and business tax in changes announced by Gordon Brown today in what he described as a Budget "to expand prosperity and fairness for families".

The Chancellor also announced an additional £8bn for investment and reform of the NHS this year and he said education spending will rise by £14bn to £74bn by 2010/11.

This is how his 11th - and probably last - Budget will affect Kent.

Personal tax: The basic rate of income tax will drop to 20p from 22p in April 2008 but the lowest rate of 10p is scrapped. Tax free allowanced for pensioners under 75 will rise annually to £9,770 by 2011.

Families: Child benefit for the first child will rise from £17 45p to £20 by 2010.

Business: Corporation Tax will be cut by 2p to 28p. Mr Brown said it was the lowest Corporation Tax among all of the UK's competitors.

Road users: The top band of road tax for the worst gas guzzling cars will rise to £300 this year and to £400 in 2008. Petrol duty will rise by 2p a litre, in line with inflation, but not for another six months.

Smokers: Cigarettes will go up by 11p for 20 but the VAT on nicotine patches comes down from 17.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

Drinkers: Beer and cider go up a 1p a pint at midnight Sunday. Wine will cost an extra 5p a bottle. Spirits will stay the same.

Other changes: New carbon zero homes costing up to £500,000 will be exempt from tax duty.

£800 million will be put into an environmental fund to help combat poverty.

And the fund to assist people who lost their pensions due to company insolvency will increase from £2bn to £8bn.

Mr Brown said the British economy was growing faster than all other G7 economies and he predicted inflation would fall to 2% and continue falling while growth would be between 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent over the next year or two.

Mr Brown said: "This is a Budget to expand prosperity and fairness for Britain's families - and it is built on the foundation of the longest period of economic stability and sustained growth in our country's history."