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-benche
rs 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.
Challenged by former minister Frank Field, ringleader of the initial rebellion, Jane Kennedy, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, promised: "We will return to this issue at the Pre-Budget Report.
"The Chancellor will bring forward proposals; they will be concrete proposals. They will be implementable as soon as possible."
Mr Taylor acknowledged he was taking it on a "huge amount of trust and goodwill" that the government would act.
Earlier, Mr Field had warned of a possible censure motion in the autumn if ministers did not make good on their promises.
The full article contains 234 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
