From prudence to stability, do we have a new buzzword from our new chancellor?

But while Alistair Darling pressed his point of stability, the chancellor also set the scene for uncertainty in the British economy by noting that "problems in one part of the world can spread to another", which, unsurprisingly, was met with jeers from the opposite side of the House of Commons.

The chancellor's speech seemed to give a clear nod to two groups: the environmental lobby and child poverty campaigners. Describing tackling climate change "our greatest obligation for the future", he made a clear "environmental signal through taxation".

The highlights of a somewhat unexciting speech include:

The economy

The economy forecast to grow by between 1.75% and 2.25% in 2008, and improve further over the next two years (2.25% to 2.75% in 2009; and 2.5% to 3% in 2010).
Inflation (using the CPI measure) to increase in the short term, but return to the - reaffirmed - 2% target in 2009 and thereafter.
Net borrowing at £36 billion in 2007-08 is £1.4 billion lower than forecast at the time of the pre-Budget report.
New borrowing forecast to increase to £43 billion in 2008-09, falling gradually to £23 billion in 2012-13.

Public spending

As previously announced, public spending to grow by 2.2% per year in the next three years. Government departments have published plans to deliver £30 billion of savings each from 2010-11.

Key public sector spending announcements include:

Defence: over £2 billion more to be spent on the frontline, including an additional £900 million on equipment.

Education: £200 million to bring forward to 2011 the target of no schools with less than 30% of pupils achieving 5 A* to C grade GCSEs including English and maths. £10m over next 5 years to create the "Enthuse Science" fund.

Transport: national road pricing tenders to test the technology.

Housing: £8 billion more on affordable and social housing over the next three years. Stamp duty not required until shared owners can afford 80% of their own home.

Taxes and benefits

Long term incapacity benefit claimants will have to attend work capacity programmes.
Child benefit to increase from April 2009 to £20 per week, a year earlier than planned.
Child element of child tax credit to increase by £50 a year above inflation from next April.
Confirmation that from April 2008, the main rate of corporation tax falls to 28%.
Extension to the Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme and the tax relief on investments on the Enterprise Investment Scheme.
Confirmed the charge on non-domiciles - after seven years they will pay a "resonable charge" to maintain the right to be taxed differently from other UK residents. No changes to this regime through this parliament and the next.
As previously announced, the basic rate of income tax to fall by 2% from April to 20% from 22%. Charities continue to claim gift aid at 22% until 2011.
The basic income tax rate of 10% is abolished (previously announced).
The personal allowance increases to £5,435 (previously announced).
The upper earnings and profits limits for NICs will increase from April 2008 from £670 to £770 per week (previously announced).

Political and economic commentators in the mainstream media found little with which to add excitement to their reports, with most concentrating on the chancellor's announcement that UK economic growth forecasts were being revised downwards.

The Financial Times said Alistair Darling's mantra of "stability now and in the future" was part of an attempt to restore the government's reputation for sound economic management.

However, it led with the news that the chancellor had cut growth rates, and said he had been "tightly constrained by a slowing economy, stretched public finances and ongoing controversy over previous tax changes".

This set the theme for most of the heavyweight media, with the Daily Telegraph warning that the economy was heading for its "most sluggish year of growth in more than a decade", while Bloomberg said that the "pared-down forecasts" in Darling's first Budget underlined "the shift in the fortunes of the UK economy since prime minister Gordon Brown presented the last budget a year ago".

The Times in its Budget special offered "five reasons why this is the most boring Budget ever".

At the BBC, business editor Robert Peston hailed the Budget as "bad news for energy companies and – presumably – good news for those on the lowest incomes" in response to the chancellor's announcement that he wanted power generators to triple their £150m spend on social tariffs.

BBC economics editor Evan Davis said that though the Budget was "as expected", forecasts looked rather brighter in the medium term than might have been anticipated. There were, he warned, some hidden future tax rises in the small print.

Responding to the speech, Conservative Party leader David Cameron taunted Labour's Ed Balls over his ambition to become chancellor with the prediction that on today's showing he would not have long to wait.

But former Guardian political editor and veteran political commentator Michael White advised: "Don't expect Brown to sack Darling any time soon".

Today's Budget may have lacked much excitement, but it did allow the media to bring new reporting technologies into play. Sky News made much of its Twitter headline service to send minute-by-minute updates of the speech, while The Guardian offered a Budget podcast. If you prefer to get your information visually, the Press Association produced an interactive graphic of the Budget's main points.

For those who missed the chancellor's speech and want to experience, as Conservative leader David Cameron put it, "all the excitement of a man reading out a telephone directory", both Sky News and the BBC have video coverage of the event.

Main documents published by the Treasury
Full Budget Report
Chancellor's speech in full

Resources on XpertHR
Pre-Budget report 2007 - the main points
XpertHR economic indicators (subscription required)
Includes data on recruitment and labour market, business confidence, pay awards, average earnings, inflation, labour disputes, unemployment and working hours