Retired couple Peter and Veronica Brooks said the Budget was “very good” for young people trying to get on the housing ladder.

But Peter, 74, believes it was a “fairly easy Budget for us pensioners”. He praised the Chancellor’s decision not to increase tax on diesel because most of the goods sold in Britain are transported by diesel vehicles.

He said: “Had he hit diesel, prices for everyone would have gone up. It would have been felt across the rest of the country as well. They have not really hit us as pensioners.

“But I do think it was very good for people trying to get their own home.

“I’m happy because the younger people do need some assistance to fund it.

“We bought our home in the 1970s. We had to save for it but nowadays there are so many things that young people can spend their money on so it is hard for them to save to buy their own home.”

Mr Brooks welcomed the changes to the personal tax allowance from £11,500 to £11,850.

It would result in them saving an extra £74 a year, with their £22,000-a-year pension income.

The former BP worker, of Chilham, Kent, said Mr Hammond was right to pledge £2.8billion for the NHS, with £350million set to be used this year to combat winter pressures.

But Mr Brooks admitted he was hoping to see a pay rise for nurses and other vital staff.

He said: “My daughter is a community nurse and she hasn’t seen anything in the way of a pay rise for years.

“The extra money is needed in the NHS. “It is bad when you realise a drugs company is charging so much for a drug and it has been marked up by almost 6,000 per cent.

“Really, the NHS should start looking at what they are buying. For a drugs company to do that is almost criminal.”