Alistair Darling set to announce Budget date

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Treasury officials declined to comment on the date ahead of the Chancellor's statement.

But they confirmed it would be released, as convention dictates, in a written ministerial statement to the House of Commons.

According to reports, Gordon Brown settled on 24 March as the best date for the Chancellor's last financial statement before the general election.

The Prime Minister could then call the election soon after, with 6 May looking increasingly firm for polling day.

Mr Brown will today make what aides are describing as a "major" speech on the economy, the issue expected to most dominate the election.

The announcement of the Budget date will see the parties step up hostilities as the timeframe of the campaign ahead becomes more clear.

There has been uncertainty about whether there would even be a Budget before the election.

A 24 March Budget would make it increasingly unlikely that the election would be held before 6 May, when council elections will take place.

In the run-up to the Budget, Mr Darling will come under strong pressure to give much more detail about how he plans to reduce the deficit.

The annual rate of borrowing is expected to reach about £178 billion this year, a record level many times that of a few years ago.

Tory leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne insist the Government is putting growth and interest rates at risk by delaying moves to bring down the deficit.

They are determined to make the economy one of the defining issues of the general election campaign, arguing that Labour has left voters worse off since 2005.

Mr Brown has been pinning his hopes, at least in part, on the economy bouncing back strongly from the recession in the early months of 2010. Crucial GDP figures are expected in late April.

But trade figures showed yesterday that British exports took their biggest plunge in more than three years during January.

Mr Brown will be speaking today at Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf, the same venue where Mr Cameron attacked Labour's record on the economy last week.