Countdown to election
So now we know. The Budget, the last big parliamentary set-piece of this Parliament, will be on Wednesday 24 March.
And that seems to make a 6 May election a racing certainty - Ladbrokes are no longer taking bets on the month of the election.
Other, wiser, heads will doubtless prognosticate about the content, the politics and the economics, but the implied parliamentary timetable - and this is no more than educated guesswork - is that Gordon Brown goes to the palace to ask for a dissolution of Parliament on 6 April. What follows is this:
A couple of parliamentary days are allowed for the "washup" the process of getting agreed legislation through, before dissolution.
A proclamation dissolving Parliament and writs for summoning a new one are issued on 12 April.
The deadline for nomination papers to be delivered by candidates would be 4pm on 20 April (which is also the last day to apply to be registered to vote).
Polling day would be 6 May - with Parliament probably reconvening on 11 May - at which point MPs would take the oath.
The state opening would follow, again probably, on 19 May.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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