Measures to help working families

This includes an increase in child benefit for the first child to £20 a week from April 2009 - a year earlier than planned. He also promised to increase by £50 a year above inflation the child element of the Child Tax Credit for families on low and middle incomes from April next year.

"This means that a family with two children, earning up to £28,000 a year, will be over £130 a year better off," Mr Darling said.

The Chancellor said more action was needed to help vulnerable groups deal with rising energy prices.

And he warned that new legislation would be introduced unless energy companies acted. He said: "We will work with the companies to take further action on a voluntary and statutory basis - to underpin this as necessary we will legislate.

"Energy companies currently spend around £50 million a year on social tariffs. I want to see this rising to at least £150 million a year over the period ahead."

He chose No Smoking Day to put 11p on a packet of 20 cigarettes from 6pm on Wednesday and 4p on the price of five cigars.

He also drove up the cost of alcohol. From midnight on Sunday, alcohol duty rates will increase by 6% above the rate of inflation, which means beer up by 4p a pint, cider by 3p a litre, wine by 14p a bottle and spirits by 55p a bottle. He also said that alcohol duties would increase by 2% above the rate of inflation in each of the next four years.

On transport, the Chancellor brought road pricing a step closer, setting aside new funding to develop technology that could underpin a national system. He also invited tenders to test the system with the results expected next year.

And he announced plans for a zero rate of car tax in the first year for new, low-emission cars but a higher first-year rate on the most polluting cars.