Budget Day Preview: Gas Standing Charges Scrapped, Welfare Pledges Criticised, Rosebank Divides Cabinet

On the morning of the Budget, the front pages of Britain's newspapers are crowded with the same event: the chancellor's statement, due at lunchtime on Wednesday. The details below come from newspaper reports ahead of the speech, not from the speech itself, and each is attributed to the paper that carried it.

The most concrete household measure comes from The Times and the Daily Telegraph. Both report that the chancellor will scrap standing charges on gas bills, the fixed daily fees households pay whether or not they use any gas. The Telegraph says the change would take up to £50 off a typical annual bill.

The i Paper reports that lower-income households are expected to get extra help with energy costs. It says the support is likely to come through the Warm Home Discount, which currently takes £150 a year off the electricity bills of eligible households. The paper says that figure is now expected to rise to £250.

On tax, the Financial Times says the rises will be modest and aimed at banks and the gambling sector. It adds that the City of London has become resigned to a raid on bank profits. The Daily Mirror reports that John Healey is likely to crack down on online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, making them responsible for collecting tax owed by the retailers who sell through their platforms. The same paper warns that the chancellor's room for large giveaways is limited by fiscal rules that block borrowing to fund day-to-day spending.

Welfare is where the criticism is sharpest. The Daily Mail's front page says Healey will duck welfare reform and instead hand out billions of pounds more to benefit claimants. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch makes a similar charge in the Daily Express, saying the chancellor and the prime minister have "chickened out of tackling out-of-control welfare."

The Times also reports on the Rosebank field, west of Shetland. It says the Budget will assume that oil and gas drilling there is approved, which would bring in significant tax revenue. According to the paper, Healey strongly backs the project, while Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband are opposed. The Guardian says government insiders have told it Rosebank can be approved without breaching the UK's carbon emission targets, partly because emissions from burning the oil after it is exported no longer count against Britain's domestic totals.

Outside the Budget, the Sun calls for Harry Kane to be knighted after he won the Ballon d'Or, describing the England captain as a "talismanic skipper" and a flawless role model and true patriot.

What to watch on Wednesday is whether the gas standing charge cut, the larger Warm Home Discount and the Rosebank assumption appear as the papers describe, and whether the split among ministers over Rosebank surfaces.