For 36-year-old Sharon Hopkins, the Budget was no cause for celebration.

The finance controller for Birmingham-based Core Marketing, who lives in Sutton Coldfield, said she was "horrified" by the Chancellor's decision to increase the cost of cigarettes, alcohol and road tax.

Although Ms Hopkins, who lives with her partner 36-year-old Paul Meredith and their two sons Sam, aged 14, and Tom, aged 12, said she was happy to hear about the reduction in income tax and corporation tax, she said the Government had targeted people's right to a personal life.

Ms Hopkins, who is currently trying to stop her 20-a-day cigarette habit, said: "They are taking with one hand and giving with the other. I do not think I will benefit too much from this.

"In terms of the rise in cost for cigarettes, that is an astronomical rise.

"It is ludicrous. They are encouraging no-smoking clinics but they won't stop selling them because of the profit they are making on them. I am trying to give up and I am booking myself into a no-smoking clinic.

"I am a wine drinker and I am absolutely gutted about that because, again, you are getting penalised for having some enjoyment in life by saying you can't drink, you can't smoke and you can't afford it.

"My mother has just bought a pub and I can't even visit her on a cheap night out."

She added that the Budget would not benefit her two sons either as although they attended a state school, she already felt they attended a private school.

"The increase in child benefit is not going to make any kind of impact at all.

"We seem to spend more and more money on education and I don't think the increase in spending will filter across.

"At the moment, we are paying for a lot of extra-curricular activities. When they have woodwork, you have to buy the materials so it's not a free education anyway.

"It's a constant thing where I need money for this or that and there are quite a few parents I have spoken to who feel the same way. You end up paying for every little thing.

"I think that is where my money goes – on supporting the kids.

"They are at an age where they are not cheap so I don't think anything in the Budget is a positive for me."

She said it was essential for her to drive a car in the event of having to get to her children in an emergency, as she felt public transport was unreliable.

Ms Hopkins, who drives an X-reg Ford Mondeo 1.8 litre and spends approximately #120 to #150 a month on petrol, said: "I only do 15 miles a day. It is an old car and I cannot afford anything new.

"It is getting to be nearer the value of the car and diesel used to be really cheap but it isn't any more. It is all about environment issues and I think everybody has got a duty towards the environment.

"We, the middle class, are getting stung for it because I cannot afford a new car that has got lower emissions. I cannot get public transport because it is not reliable enough so you cannot win either way."