Political reporter(wp/es):
Mr Hammond told MPs that “austerity is finally coming to an end” with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expecting "resilient" growth over the coming years.
He announced an extra £500 million for preparations for Brexit and hinted that there would be an emergency budget in Spring.
He also announced cash injections for defence and schools, cuts to business rates, a freeze on beer and cider duty and spirit duty for the next year and a rise in the National Living Wage.
But what will the measures really mean for Londoners?
Business owner
Howard Wong, 33, is co-founder of desserts manufacturer Little Moons.
The family-run gourmet dessert brand provides a range of treats handmade in the UK, made by wrapping bite-sized balls of artisan gelato ice cream in a layer of soft, chewy mochi.
Boxes are supplied to Waitrose and Ocado. £4.99 per box of six mochi.
What were you looking for in the Budget?
Mr Wong told the Standard: “At this point, I don't think the budget will have much impact on our business but welcome moves to support small shops on the high street.
“I think more needs to be done to help small manufacturing businesses meet rising costs of energy, higher raw material import prices and increasing labour costs.
“The biggest issue we are currently facing is uncertainty over Brexit and the chance of a hard Brexit putting off European customers from starting business with us.”
What will the announcements in the Budget actually mean for you?
“With Brexit one of the big struggles for us is labour, workers have been going home and restaurants and retailers have been feeling the impact.
“The apprenticeships scheme is good for that. Also it’s good to see support for small businesses and the change in entrepreneur relief from 12 months to two years might change things for us.”
Mr Hammond said for smaller firms taking on apprentices, the Government will half the amount they have to contribute from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. He said a support for apprenticeships was worth £695 million.
Business rate bills have been cut by one-third for the next two years for all retailers in England with a rateable value of £51,000 or less, delivering an annual saving of up to £8,000 for up to 90 per cent of all independent shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes.
Start-Up Loans funding will be extended to 2021, helping 10,000 entrepreneurs.
First-time buyer
Adam Bradford, 26, wants to buy his first home but is struggling to get on to the property ladder due to the high cost of living in London.
The young marketing entrepreneur from south-east London said he moved his agency to London from Sheffield because income in the capital is higher, but said he is now priced out of buying his own home.
Annual salary: £30,000 to 35,000
Lives: a rented flat in south-east London for £1,000 a month
What were you looking for in the Budget?
"There was some speculation around things to help younger people who were looking to buy property. Thinktanks were talking about some kind of scheme or tax benefit when you put down your deposit.
"[I was hoping] for schemes to help people invest in property.
"The cost of living is very high. Young people are getting stuck in a trap where you end up renting but because of that you can't buy.
"Unless you are fortunate to have parents who are able to help you out it's very hard."
Mr Bradford suggested ideas including a part subsidised deposit scheme to help people get on the property ladder and a reprieve for the first two years of mortgages for first time buyers.
He added: "I think the Government could have backed a scheme to get access for support for a deposit."
What will the announcements in the Budget actually mean for you?
"Absolutely nothing. I haven't heard anything that's going to make the situation easier, for people like me who are looking climb the ladder but we are trapped. We are all priced out.
"But nothing has been mentioned. There was lots about businesses. It seems as though the Chancellor is throwing a lot of money around but it's not hitting the people who want to progress in society.
"There's thousands of people like me who are working but in some degreee you could say our social mobility is trapped."
Mr Bradford said he is ideally looking to buy a house with his partner, but there doesn't seem to be an affordable way to do it.
Business owner
Ed Hauck, 41, from Surrey, is the co-founder of start-up The Curators, a Covent Garden-based start-up which has been making “full of flavour” snacks for sale in the UK, predominantly in Sainsbury’s.
Founder of the business with Max Rees, 34, the entrepreneur wanted to see more support for manufacturing and innovation and said there still remains a “massive amount of uncertainty”.
What were you looking for in the Budget?
Mr Hauck told the Standard: “I wanted to see whether there would be any support for encouraging us to employ more people.
“I was also curious to see what was in there to support small businesses, in particular in terms of support for innovation and possible some sort of financial support for those going into the Brexit unknown.”
What will the announcements in the Budget actually mean for you?
“It was disappointing there was hardly anything for manufacturing and innovation. I didn’t see a lot around really supporting both of those. That aspect is a really big thing for us because it’s quite hard to generate more product ideas, it can be quite a gamble for small businesses.
“I think there’s some reasons to be optimistic but there still remains a massive amount of uncertainty which is holding a lot of small businesses back. I don’t think it went far enough to address those fears.
“Also, while I think it’s great they’re looking at business rates I don’t think it’s going far enough to address the scale of the problem for the high streets.”
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