News
Emergency budget
23 June 2010
The key points include a pledge that child poverty will not increase; personal income tax allowance will be raised by £1,000 to £7,475, forecast to take 880,000 people out of tax altogether (from April); and VAT will rise from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent (from January 2011). In relation to welfare benefits - £11 billion is to be saved from welfare cuts by 2014. This will include a freeze on benefits for the next three years, and pay for public sector workers earning over £21,000 will be frozen for two years.