The Chancellor, George Osborne (right) headed to the
House of Commons to deliver his "Budget for our aspiration nation".
He said that it was a Budget for those who "have felt that the
whole system was tilted against those who did the right thing: who
worked, who saved, who aspired". From 2014, no income tax will be
levied on the first £10,000 of a salary, and from 2015 some parents
will be able to claim back up to £1200 a year for each child in
childcare costs.
The chief executive of the Children's Society, Matthew Reed,
said that children were "largely absent" from the Budget, which
"gives little hope to struggling families already hit by sweeping
cuts". Charities welcomed the news that the Government was still
committed to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on international
development. The director of Christian Aid, Loretta Minghella,
said, however, that the Government had "missed an opportunity to
use tax reform to help reduce developing countries' reliance on
aid". The Chancellor could have required multinationals to reveal
the tax-avoidance schemes they were using in the developing
world.