Poverty Review will not help people hit by tax rise

2.20.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 22nd Apr 2008

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg

Gordon Brown's attempt to head off a defeat over the abolition of the 10p income tax band appears not to have won over rebel Labour MPs. 39 have signed an amendment challenging the decision - enough to beat the Government if repeated in next week's Commons vote. Party whips have told MPs a vote against the bill will be a vote of no confidence in the government. During second reading debate on the Finance Bill yesterday, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper said an inquiry into child poverty would be expanded to include low earning households without children. Labour MPs have continued to criticise the scrapping of the 10p rate. "Gordon Brown should just stand back and say, maybe I didn't quite get the sums right," said Ian Gibson MP.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said "After weeks of pressure from all sides, all this tired Government has been able to come up with is yet another review. The Treasury shouldn't need to 'consult stakeholders' to work out the impact of doubling the rate of income tax for people on low incomes. This is a desperate attempt to calm Labour MPs who are taking the blame from voters for Gordon Brown's decision to hit some of the poorest workers with a big tax rise for the sake of easy headlines."