Budget 2011

Inflation hit 4.4% in February, up from 4% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - heaping more pressure on the Bank of England to hike interest rates.

The Chancellor will use Wednesday's Budget to announce the biggest clampdown on tax avoidance since 2004, raising twice as much as the £500m a year predicted when the initiative was launched last December.

The "wrong kind of inflation" will mean the government has to borrow significantly more over the medium term than planned, George Osborne will be forced to admit in the Budget.