12:26pm Tuesday 7th July 2009
By Tom Moseley
AN EAST Lancashire Labour MP is at the centre of a fresh rebellion against the Government’s tax plans.
Greg Pope, who represents Hyndburn, is threatening to block this year’s budget unless Chancellor Alistair Darling compensates everyone made worse off by the 2007 abolition of the 10p tax rate.
Mr Pope, who is standing down at the next General Election, admits the measure would cost hundreds of millions of pounds in lost tax revenue.
But he said he was determined to stand his ground and did not mind being branded a “rebel”.
He said: “I did not come into politics to make poor people poorer.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was then Chancellor, axed the minimum 10 per cent band of income tax in his 2007 budget.
There has already been one revolt, with the Government heading off rebels with a £2.9bn compensation package.
But Mr Pope and fellow backbencher Frank Field say more than a million people low-earners will still lose out.
They have tabled an amendment to the finance bill, which is to be debated this week, calling for those people to be compensated before the Budget announced in March can come into force.
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