The embattled chancellor was subject to conflicting pressures when he presented his Budget. The media wanted him to respond to the public's desire to end austerity. Amid media doom and gloom predictions, some encouraging Budget decisions are: Scrapping a fuel duty rise for petrol and diesel cars scheduled for April 2018. A new homelessness task force. Preventing developers purchasing land for financial reasons and then not building on it. £400m to regenerate housing estates.  80% of first-time buyers will be exempt from  stamp duty. National Living Wage rise of 4.4%. VAT threshold for small business to remain at £85,000 for two years while large technology groups like Google and Apple will pay more. £40m teacher training fund for underperforming schools.  Recruitment of 8,000 new computer science teachers for new National Centre for Computing. £2.8bn for the NHS in England. Pay rise for nurses, but not the police.