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Aide 'intends to quit' in tax row MP 'to quit government over tax'
(20 minutes later)
A junior member of the government has told colleagues she is going to resign in protest at the abolition of the 10p tax rate. A junior member of the government has told colleagues she is going to resign in protest at the abolition of the 10p tax rate, the BBC has learned.
Angela Smith, parliamentary private secretary to Yvette Cooper told them she was leaving her post in the Treasury, the BBC has learned. Angela Smith, parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Yvette Cooper, told them she was leaving her post.
The Sheffield Hillsborough MP has previously been extremely loyal. PPS is an unpaid position seen as the first rung on the government ladder.
Gordon Brown has come under pressure from Labour MPs who fear axing the 10p rate will hit low-income people.Gordon Brown has come under pressure from Labour MPs who fear axing the 10p rate will hit low-income people.
Sheffield Hillsborough MP Ms Smith has previously been extremely loyal.
The prime minister, who is in the US on a three-day trip, also came under fire earlier from Labour peer Lord Desai who said: "Blair was like champagne and caviar, Brown is more like porridge or Haggis. He is very solid, very nourishing but not exciting."
Constituents' anger
More than 70 Labour MPs have signed one of three Commons motions calling for action on the abolition of the 10p rate of income tax.
The decision to scrap the lowest rate was announced in last year's Budget, when Mr Brown was still chancellor, as was the decision to cut the basic rate of income tax from 22% to 20% and increase tax credits.
But it has only just come into force and Labour MPs have been contacted by many constituents angry at the impact the decision is having.
Earlier this month the Commons Treasury committee said childless single people earning under £18,500 would lose up to £232 a year.
The government says the abolition to the 10p rate was an integral part of last year's Budget in which "millions of people" benefited from the decision to slash the basic rate of income tax.
They said it would lead to "a significant increase" in pensioner tax allowance, a widening of the working tax credit and increases in child benefit and child tax credit.