What do people make of the today's Budget?

The big debate among campaigners is on child poverty, where the government committed around £1bn of the £3.4bn deemed necessary to hit its target of halving child poverty by 2010.

The core child poverty campaign groups have strongly welcomed this, saying the government has brought the 2010 target within reach; others, including, predictably, the Lib Dems, say this is the day Darling and Brown kissed goodbye to the 2010 target. Who to believe?

For Darling to meet the 2010 figure, he would have to do twice as much as he's done today in the 2009 budget (or the 2008 or 2009 pre-budget reports, where announcements on taxation and benefits will also be made). Given the state of the public finances (high levels of borrowing and debt, tight spending plans all round - apart from in the NHS - and an ongoing aversion to increasing taxes), this seems deeply unlikely but who knows?

On other fronts, it doesn't seem that older people's groups are very happy. Darling announced a one-off increase in the winter fuel allowance (£100 extra for the over-80s, £50 extra for the over-60s), but this has been deemed pretty small fry by Help the Aged.