The Budget 2012 announcement was greeted with scepticism when we took to the streets of Norwich to ask the public for their views.

Terrez Price, 27, a photography student and freelance photographer, said: 'I feel that when it comes to students, what they have done is charge three times as much money to the student but I'm not sure what they plan to do with the money.'

Joshua Warden, 28, a civil servant from Norwich, said: 'The budget does seem to be a little bit clandestine. It has some insidious points like for example the supposed measures to benefit society.

'The benefits to the poor are giving with one hand and taking away with the other.'

Cathy Cox, 55 a support worker from Norwich, said: 'Well it seems I get paid one day and I'm broke the next, just trying to pay bills and stuff like that. They keep going up but I haven't had a pay increase for a over a year.'

And Gary Oldham, 43, a teacher from north Norfolk, said: 'There are benefits at both ends of the spectrum, especially for the wealthy because of the 45p tax cut. I see they have also introduced Lib Dem policies by increasing the personal allowance lower tax threshold for those on lower wages but I've also seen that there have been lots of cuts to benefits too.

'It seems to me like a budget for the wealthy.'