Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will deliver his tenth - and possibly final - Budget in the House of Commons.
MPs will closely scrutinise his annual financial statement for any hint that he expects to have succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister by the time of next year's Budget.
But Home Secretary Charles Clarke told reporters at a Westminster lunch that he expects Mr Blair to remain Prime Minister until the summer of 2008.
Press reports predicted that Mr Brown would use the Budget to signal an expansion of the Private Finance Initiative and to impose restrictions on pay rises for high-flying public sector workers.
Among the most widely trailed Budget measures is an expected freeze on fuel duties for the fourth year in succession. The Government has been wary of antagonising the road lobby since the fuel protest of 2000.
However, the move will infuriate environmentalists. The Chancellor was yesterday accused by MPs on the Commons Environmental Audit Committee of failing to take seriously threat of global warming.
The committee said that the "green" measures in Mr Brown's Pre-Budget Report in December were "inadequate" and complained of "institutional inertia" in the Treasury in the face of scientific evidence of climate change.
It is reported that Mr Brown will couple his announcement with an increase in road tax for SUVs to around £200 with corresponding cuts for motorists with smaller, cleaner engines. However, it is unlikely to be sufficient to mollify his critics in the green camp.
PA