Last night Frank Field and I moved an amendment to the Finance Bill to try to ensure no one was worse off as a result of the abolition of the 10p starting rate in income tax.
Click here to read my speech.
Sadly, despite the support of the tories, the Liberal Democrats and 30 Labour MPs, we didn't succeed. Too many Labour MPs, although agreeing with us that this was a wholly unjustified cut in the income of hundreds of thousands of households on very low incomes, felt that they couldn't vote against the Budget when the fortunes of the Government were so low.
I disagree. What is a Labour government for it it doesn't defend and protect the less well-off?
Frank Fields and I will not let this drop. We are asking for a meeting with the Chancellor to discuss what further steps he can take to help these people.