This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7357085.stm
The article has changed 12 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Chancellor hints at 10p tax help | Chancellor hints at 10p tax help |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The chancellor has ruled out a rethink on the axing of the 10p tax rate - but promised "to return" in future Budgets to help those hit by the move. | The chancellor has ruled out a rethink on the axing of the 10p tax rate - but promised "to return" in future Budgets to help those hit by the move. |
| Alistair Darling told the BBC that he could not "rewrite the Budget". | Alistair Darling told the BBC that he could not "rewrite the Budget". |
| He said Labour critics of the change should look at it alongside tax credit, pensions and minimum wage changes - all of which helped lower earners. | He said Labour critics of the change should look at it alongside tax credit, pensions and minimum wage changes - all of which helped lower earners. |
| Mr Darling echoed David Miliband's call for Labour to be united and to show they wanted to win the next election. | |
| Stomach bug | |
| He rejected suggestions the 10p tax rate row was Labour's "poll tax moment" - the policy often blamed for hastening the end to Margaret Thatcher's time as Tory leader and PM. | |
| And he said he thought Labour could win the next election "if we can show the determination to win" and show that they understood voters' concerns and show they had the right answers. | |
| We know thanks to the pressure we exerted earlier this year on issues like capital gains tax that if you push this chancellor enough, he gives way George OsborneShadow chancellor | |
| During his interview on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show Mr Darling also confirmed that he would be making a Commons statement on Monday about the Bank of England plan to swap £50bn of government bonds for mortgages. | |
| And he likened the credit crunch and its fall-out to a stomach bug which you have to let work its way through the system. | |
| Earlier, Mr Miliband, the foreign secretary, warned in an article for the News of the World that squabbling over the abolition of the 10p income tax rate raised the risk of electoral defeat. | |
| Mr Miliband praised Gordon Brown's "strong values and deep convictions" but said Labour was now the "political underdog" and would lose the election if people argued "among ourselves, failing to defend each other and our leader". | |
| Commons vote | |
| He was responding to unhappiness among some Labour MPs - including six ministerial aides - about the fact that people on low incomes without dependent children have been hit by the axing of the 10p starting rate for tax. | |
| The tax change, announced when Gordon Brown was chancellor last year but which came into force this month, means people who would have paid income tax at the lowest, introductory 10% rate will now have to pay the 20% rate. | |
| It is part of a range of changes which come fully into force in the new tax year. Child benefits, state pensions and tax credits have all gone up. | |
| The Commons Treasury committee has said childless single people earning under £18,500 will lose up to £232 a year. | |
| EFFECTS OF TAX CHANGES Winners: Most people/ with incomes of £18,000+Under £18,000 but aged 65+ and therefore eligible for higher personal allowancesUnder £18,000 but with young children and therefore eligible for child tax credits Losers: Under £18,000 and ineligible for working tax credits because under 25Retired early and therefore ineligible for higher personal allowancesPart-timer working insufficient hours to qualify for tax credits Different personal circumstances may affect final amountsSource: PWC Tax changes explainedSend us your comments | |
| On Saturday, Downing Street dismissed calls for a rethink over the abolition of the 10p rate, and denied it would offer concessions to critics. | |
| But Mr Darling, while ruling out reinstating the 10p rate, said the lowest third of earners had been the biggest gainers from the changes and said he had also added another £1bn of help for low-earning people with children in last month's Budget. | |
| He said: "We want to do as much as we can to help people on low incomes... and I intend in future Budgets to return to this subject." | |
| MPs will get a chance to vote on the 10p tax issue the week after next, when ex-minister Frank Field plans to table an amendment to the Finance Bill calling for compensation for those affected. | |
| Shadow chancellor George Osborne told the Marr show that they wanted to put "maximum pressure on the government" over the 10p tax rate. | |
| "We know thanks to the pressure we exerted earlier this year on issues like capital gains tax that if you push this chancellor enough, he gives way and I think it is manageable to come up with a tax package that protects those on low incomes," he said. | |
| "They shouldn't be the people who are paying the price for the government's economic incompetence." | |
| He said that Mr Brown's government "feels like a government that has lost its way and lost touch with people". |