Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Spencer Excerpts
Tuesday 10th May 2011

(13 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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The vast majority of people on low and middle incomes will benefit from the income tax cuts that will result from the raising of the income tax threshold by £1,000. For families with children, we have increased the child element of child tax credit by £180 above indexation. I agree with the shadow Chancellor, who admitted on the BBC shortly after the Budget that

“only the majority of families”

would benefit from those moves.

Mark Spencer Portrait Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)
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Does the Chief Secretary share my desire to see a welfare system in which hard-working families are better off than those who choose not to work? Does he agree that, as soon as we can afford it, we should enable as many as possible of those hard-working families to benefit from the lifting of the tax threshold?

Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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I agree wholeheartedly. That is why we have set ourselves the agenda of both reforming the welfare system and lifting the income tax threshold to £10,000, which will significantly benefit millions of people on low and middle incomes.