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Income Tax

My hon. Friend is quite right. The whole country has benefited from high levels of employment, and from the fact that we have historically low interest rates and—even given today's figures—historically low inflation rates, which are lower than those in America and Europe. During the past 11 years, because we have had such a strong and stable economy, we have been able to do far more to lift children out of poverty, lift pensioners out of poverty and help people on low incomes as well as those on middle incomes. I believe that my announcement today will go a long way in helping people who do not have children, or whose children have grown up—a group of people whom many in my party feel strongly we ought to support, especially at the moment.