Labour’s Chancellor Alistair Darling today announced an increase in personal tax allowances, benefiting all basic rate taxpayers under 65. It will provide support for families on middle incomes this year at a time when they face increased bills. In stark contrast David Cameron offers only salesmanship, not leadership. For all his talk on the 10p tax rate, he has never offered any solution to those on low incomes.

The Chancellor Alistair Darling said in the House of Commons:
"The change that I am announcing today represents the fairest and most effective way to help all those affected as a result of the changes proposed last year. This family tax cut provides support this year for those on middle incomes at a time where they face increased bills, so supporting the economy."

The Chancellor's announcement means that for this financial year the personal tax allowance will increase by £600 to £6035 and will apply to all income for this tax year and will be backdated to 6 April. As a result 22 million people on low and middle incomes will gain an additional £120.

4.2 million households out of the 5.3 million households will receive as much - or more than - they originally lost due to the abolition of the 10p tax rate, with the remaining 1.1 million households seeing their loss at least halved.

From September basic rate taxpayers will see a one-off increase in their monthly income of £60 and then an increase of £10 per month for the rest of the financial year. 600,000 people on low incomes will be taken out of tax altogether. Those who currently pay tax at 40 per cent will be unaffected by the increase in the personal allowance.

The Tories claim to care about people on low incomes. But they opposed every major measure the Labour Government has introduced to help low income people. They opposed the introduction of the Minimum Wage. They opposed tax credits. They opposed more help for pensioners.

And their record in government speaks for itself. During the years of Tory rule, rates of child poverty tripled. Those living at the bottom of the income scale saw their real incomes stagnate. And all suffered as a result of 15% interest rates and 3 million unemployed.