Single mother Linda Lewyckyj is a learning support assistant at St John the Baptist Primary School.

Making ends meet has always been difficult and last year she moved into a smaller home in order to be able to manage her mortgage payments. She has a nine-year-old daughter, Soraya, a pupil at the same school in Brighton.

Miss Lewyckyj, from Brighton, said she was lucky to have no child minding fees to find because she only worked during school terms.

She said: "This Budget is not really for me and I would like to have seen more help for single parents with much lower taxation."

From her weekly take home pay, in the £150 to £200 bracket, and one-parent child benefit of £15.50 she has to find £60 per week for the family shopping and a further £16 for council tax. Gas, water, electricity and phone take a further £30 per week.

Miss Lewyckyj does not have a car but spends about £35 a week on fares to the city centre.

She drinks no more than a bottle of wine per month but she smokes five packs of cigarettes a week.

She said: "It's always a shame for a smoker at Budget time, maybe it will help discourage others from taking up the habit."