THE 2012 budget received a mixed reaction in East Lancashire.

Chancellor George Osborne said the decisions on tax would “reward hard work”, and benefit families, as “Britain earns its way in the world”.

Burnley’s Liberal Democrat MP Gordon Birtwistle hailed the news, saying the most important element was raising the personal tax allowance to £9,205.

He said: “East Lancashire is a low wage economy, and this allowance increase now means that thousands of people will be taken out of paying income tax all together.

“Working people will get to keep more of the money they earn, and more money in people’s pockets, the more money they have to spend in local shops.”

Mr Birtwistle also praised the increase in the state pension, the lowering of corporation tax to 24 per cent, and said no increase on fuel or alcohol duty was down to “good work” reducing borrowing amounts.

Rossendale and Darwen Conservative MP Jake Berry said the budget was a “boost for East Lancashire”.

He said: “As well as the personal allowance increase benefiting thousands in the area, all businesses in East Lancashire will benefit from the lowering of corporation tax.”

Jack Straw, MP for Blackburn with Darwen, said: “There are some things which I welcome, such as the confirmation of investment in North West rail services, although I will carry on my campaign to upgrade the Blackburn-Bolton line.

My overall point is it is a missed opportunity to help the long-term unemployed and to put more into wider construction in the North West.”

Union bosses slammed the budget as ‘for the very rich and serial tax avoiders’.

Unison regional officer Tim Ellis said: “There are 150,000 public servants in the Lancashire area already facing a third year of pay cuts and the lifting of the tax threshold will not alleviate this.

"They will also be concerned that there is an extra £5 billion of public sector cuts following the lifting of the 50p tax threshold.”

PUBS

Simon Scott, landlord of the Bridge Bier Huis in Burnley, said the budget annoucement of no extra alcohol duty was “as good as could be expected”.

He said: “No pubs are allowed to sell cigarettes anymore, we don’t have gaming machines, and they haven’t put the price of alcohol up more than the usual amount annually brought in by the last Government.

“The only thing that surprised me was that he didn’t mention minimum prices for alcohol.

“That will only really affect supermarkets that offer very cheap deals on drinks, so we’d be in favour of that anyway. One of the biggest problems we have is people preloading at home before they come out.”

John Ingham, landlord of The Rising Sun in Gisburn Road, Blacko, said more could have been done for the pub trade.

He said: “The Chancellor hasn’t gone back on the two per cent per year increase implemented by Alistair Darling, and doing nothing doesn’t help stop 16 pubs a week from closing.

“Because of the pre-standing arrangement, every year there’s five or six pence added to a pint of beer, on top of the increases made by the brewery in January, which this year added 10p to a pint.

"It begins to add up and it makes a difference.”

fAMILIES

Emma-Jayne Neachin, 29, of Colne, is married to Ryan, 32, and they have a two children Ashleigh, nine, and Leon, seven.

Emma-Jayne is a childminder and Ryan is a driving instructor.

Emma said: “I’m pleased there’s been no extra fuel duty because Ryan can’t keep putting his prices up every time fuel goes up, and I’m pleased the personal allowance has gone up – every little helps.”

pENSIONER

June Ellison, 83, of the Whitehall area of Darwen, is a retired cashier.

She said: “When the pension goes up next week I won’t be that much better off when we all start getting £140 a week. I don’t think many people will be.

“But, I agree that people earning over £60,000 shouldn’t get child benefit – I should think they can afford to live without it.”

OUT-OF-WORK

John Hughes, 57, of Highercroft, Blackburn, is qualified in security and youth work, but has been unemployed for a fortnight.

He said: “It’s a good thing that corporation tax is coming down, because hopefully that will encourage more businesses to spend the extra money recruiting people like me. It’s no good that money being put in the bank.

“I’m all about job creation, and hopefully this will have a positive impact.”

Fuel

Robert Cotterill, chairman of Simonstone-based Seaways Services, which has a haulage arm, was pleased fuel duty and vehicle excise duty was not set for an extra increase, but was concerned about other commodities.

He said: “I can remember the days of paying £3,100 excise duty per vehicle and now it’s £1,200. “It’s the other items that go up that worry me most though, like the cost of tyres.

For me, they’ve gone up £100 a tyre in 12 months, and I have 11 arctics, all 14 wheelers.”

Mark Atkinson, 51, runs a handyman business in Darwen. He said: “I feel like we’ve been kicked in the teeth again. Fuel duty is going to rise again in August anyway, and it’s a struggle to compete.

“I used to put £60 a week in my van, but now it’s costing about £90. Every time you go to give a quote that you don’t get, you’re losing money hand over fist.

“Politicians are out of touch.”

Taxation.

From April 2013, the 50p top rate of tax will be cut to 45p.

Personal income tax allowance raised to £9,205 from April 2013.

40% tax band threshold is reduced from £42,475 to £41,450 from 2013.

Child benefit.

Will be phased out when someone in a household has an income of more than £50,000. It will fall by 1% for every £100 earned over £50,000.

Those earning more than £60,000 will lose the benefit. Cigarettes.

Duty on all tobacco products rises by 5% above inflation from yesterday - 37p per packet of cigarettes.

Fuel.

3p increase in fuel prices to go ahead as planned in August. Vehicle excise duty to rise by inflation, but frozen for road hauliers.

Alcohol.

No change to existing plans on alcohol duty - meaning the duty will rise 2% above the rate of inflation, putting more than 5p on the price of a pint.

Pensions.

Age-related allowances to be removed for new pensioners from April 2013, and replaced with a single personal allowance for all. Allowances for those already of pension age to be frozen.