10p tax fiasco to cost
02/07/2008
A move by Labour rebels to help 1.1 million low-paid people who lost out from the scrapping of the 10p tax band and have not yet been compensated was dropped last night.
Faced with a Labour backlash in May, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, announced an emergency £2.7 billion package to compensate the bulk of those left worse off by the ending of the 10p rate.
He faced a smaller revolt last night from back-benchers still not satisfied that the government had gone far enough. They were demanding compensation for the remaining 1.1 million.
But the leading rebel, David Taylor, a Leicestershire MP, decided not to put his amendment to a vote after the government insisted it was still working to compensate those households that lost out.
