21/03/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10. A controversial tax cut for the

highest earners in the coalition's Budget. But all the measures in the

red box, says the Chancellor, will see the richest paying more tax

while the rest pay less. Together the British people will share in

the effort and share the rewards. This country borrowed its way into

trouble. Now we will earn our way out. It is a millionaire's Budget

that squeezes the middle. Wrong choices come up wrong priorities

come up wrong values, out of touch, same old Tories.

Pensioners' groups react with anger to unexpected changes in their

special tax allowances. We don't think it is fair. Pensioners have

paid all their lives into the tax system and they seem to get

penalised and left behind. We will have the details, the reaction and

analysis. A British woman held in Somalia for

six months is freed thanks mainly to the efforts of her son. I don't

know how he secured my release, but he did and I'm really happy. I

can't wait to see him. In Toulouse, armed police corner a

man suspected of the recent gun attacks.

And the latest evidence that aspirin could be a powerful weapon

against cancer. Coming up in sport, Carlos makes

his comeback. After six months in exile, Carlos Tevez is amongst the

substitutes for Manchester City in Good evening.

George Osborne's third Budget is already proving to be his most

controversial with a cut in the top rate of income tax and changes to

allowances affecting millions of pensioners. The Chancellor insisted

his Budget would back working families. Let's look at the main

measures. A reduction in the 50p rate of tax to 45p from next year.

The biggest ever increase in the tax-free allowance which will

benefit millions of people. Pensioners will be affected by the

freezing of their special tax allowance and fewer households will

now be losing their child benefit payments. First tonight, Nick

He had nothing to spend, he had no new economic policy, he had few

secrets left in his Chancellor's red box. Yet today George Osborne

delivered a Budget that may well be talked about for a very long time.

Are the rich going to pay their fair share? He knows people's

judgement about whether today's announcements were fair will decide

if today comes to be seen as a Budget for millionaires or, as he

hopes, a Budget for millions. Budget rewards work. Britain is

going to earn its weight in the world. There is no other road to

recovery. The highest earners, on more than �150,000 the year, will

get to keep more of what they earn as the top tax rate is cut from 50%

to 45%. From April next year, the top rate of tax will be 45% -- 45p.

No Chancellor... No Chancellor... Shane, shouted some Labour MPs. The

Chancellor's answer was it was a tax that was doing more harm than

good. No Chancellor can justify attacks rate that damages our

economy and raised his next to nothing. It is as simple as that.

These are the official documents which he is using to back his claim

that cutting taxes at the top costs very little. These are the sorts of

houses which will generate the extra tax he is promising. Not a

new tax for the owners of mansions, but a higher tax on buying them and

the closing of loopholes and the capping of tax relief. I regard tax

evasion and indeed aggressive tax avoidance as morally repugnant.

Dem MPs a light that and they cheered this, a promise of a tax

cut for 23 million people. Every working person on low or middle

incomes will benefit. People will be able to earn up to �9,205 before

they have to pay any tax. That rise in the personal tax allowance will

take 800,000 people out of paying any tax at all. Outside, they

called for higher taxes on businesses. Inside, the Chancellor

announced a cut in corporation tax of 1% more than already planned.

This is the biggest sustained reduction in business tax rates for

a generation. A headline rate that is not just lower than our

competitors, but dramatically lower. Families saw no reversal of cuts to

tax credit and no help with fuel duty, but there was better news for

those expecting to lose their child benefit. The plan had been to cut

child benefit for any family where one partner earned over 42,000 a

year. Today, that changed so you will lose some if you were an over

50,000, and all of your child benefit when your earnings are more

than 60,000. So who would pay for this generosity? Part of the answer

to that is pensioner's who took up paying tax. I will freeze the cash

value of the allowance for existing pensioners until it aligns with the

personal allowance. When Chancellors lower their voice and

sound technical, it is time to watch out for your wallet. It is a

major simplification, it saves money and no pensioner will lose in

cash terms. Maybe, but he will save over �3 billion over three years by

freezing those allowances and the average pensioner will lose �83 a

year. He has pencilled in more significant savings, resulting from

the decision to start bringing troops home from Afghanistan,

starting next year. It was a Budget with no net giveaway, but it ended

with a mighty big plane. Together, the British people will share in

the effort and share the rewards. This country borrowed its way into

trouble, now we will burn away out. -- earn our way out. For Labour

there was and is just a single question. Why give the rich to give

away now? Are the Chancellor spoke for an hour, but one of his phrases

was missing. There was one thing he did not say. Today marks the end of

we are all in it together. Hands up in the Cabinet if you will benefit

from the income tax cut. Come on! Labour claimed the cost is �3

billion, not the 100 million in the official figures. Tax credit card,

child benefit taken away, fuel duty rising and what has he chosen to

make his priority? For Britain's millionaires, a massive income tax

cut each and every year. Joining Labour on that political

battleground, not just these protesters, but the Scottish and

Welsh nationalists. It has failed to deliver on growth and on

fairness. The millionaires are being treated best, the poorest,

pensioners, middle earners are being squeezed the most.

biggest concern for Welsh people is there's a clear framework for

introducing regional pay. That will institutionalise Wales and the

North of England. George Osborne knows cutting the 50p rate of tax

will not be popular. He knows some will claim pensioners and the poor

are paying for it. But his gamble is that whatever the politics,

getting rid of the 50p rate will More reaction in a moment, but

first let's take a look at some of the other measures in today's

Budget. Duty is up significantly on all tobacco products, adding 37p to

a packet of cigarettes. There's no additional rise in alcohol to the

plans they have already announced. There is no new changed to fuel

duty, that is still meant a rise by 3p a litre in August. For business

and industry, more enterprise zones will be created to try to boost

business growth. And in public sector, the Chancellor has

confirmed plans to explore regional pay rates for civil servants.

Pensioners' groups have reacted with anger to the unexpected

changes to the age-related tax allowance. Current allowances will

be frozen for existing pensioners and abolish the those people who

retire after next April. For reaction to that and others, Danny

For many pensioners, the news that their tax-free allowance was to be

frozen was greeted with surprise and dismay today. Cliff and Edna

are just two of millions of pensioners who will be worse off

because of what has been dubbed by some as the granny tax. I don't

think it is fair, really. Pensioners have paid all of their

lives into the tax system and they seem to get penalised and left

behind. I don't think we should pay tax, to be honest. But the

government says it is not a tax rise and stressed that older people

will benefit from a �5.30 a week increase in their state pension,

making them significantly better off. And not everyone feels

aggrieved about today's announcement. I'm not unduly

worried at the moment. Financial circumstances, OK, we can manage.

He Wells was affected? The personal tax allowance for 24 million people

is going up, meaning they can earn more before paying any tax. They

include 23-year-old Sophie. She works part-time in shops in

Northallerton, earns less than �10,000 a year and could find

herself lifted out of the tax system altogether. Extra money is

always good. It allows me to work a couple more hours without worrying

about income tax. I can put money towards things I really want. Pay

off my debts. What about the other end of the scale? Charles is in the

50% tax rate bracket. The managing director of the town's department

store, he says cutting the top rate of tax was not a priority for him.

What is much more important is that the lower threshold is raised. That

will put more money into people's pockets. It will be more people

through the doors with more money to spend. Changes to child benefit

was another big issue today. Mother of one Lisa was facing losing all

of her allowance under recent proposals, but after this Budget,

the 40% tax rate payer will now hold on to some of it, but she is

still not happy. I don't think it is fair that my neighbours, with a

joint income of �90,000, can still bring in the full child benefit

whereas me, as one earner earning above the threshold will be

penalised. I think it is a really unjust system. So which side of the

Chancellor have you seen today? That, of course, depends on your

As we heard earlier, the Chancellor says it is a Budget for working

people with millions benefiting from tax cuts and the rich paying

more. Labour says more cash should have gone to the poorest groups.

Stephanie Flanders is here to explain who is bearing the heaviest

burden. A big picture on the economy and the public finances has

changed hardly at all in this Budget. What the Chancellor gave

with one hand, he took away with the other. As we have heard, the

hot issue was how much he had given or taken from the very rich. Mr

Osborne said new taxes would have them paying another �780 million a

year by 2014. For example that is through a higher stamp duty on �2

million plus homes, but there was a cut in the top rate of income tax

from 50% to 45% for anyone earning more than �150,000 a year. High

earners don't react to this change at all, it will cost the Treasury

�3 billion. But that top 1% have taken such efforts to avoid the new

tax, the Revenue says the actual cost will be �100 million, if that.

A lot of money will come back into the tax system. The Office for

Budget Responsibility say that is reasonable, but usually uncertain.

There's a gamble in play because they are banking on people paying

more tax overall. The difficulty they will have his around people's

behaviour. Will they bring in the revenue based on some assumptions

that are not guaranteed come through? It is a brave move, but

they think there's a possibility of the revenue coming through. We know

they can do it. Top earners moved more than �16 billion worth of

taxable income into 2009 solely to avoid the 50p rate. But experts,

including the OBR, say there's no guarantee the money lost will come

back. You can say for sure that most middle and low-income

households will gain from this Budget. That rise in the personal

allowance cost the Chancellor �3.5 billion in the last year of the

parliament and will lift 800,000 people out of tax altogether. After

inflation, that means on average a �170 a year game for basic-rate

taxpayers. There's also the change to child benefit which will cost

630 million and help households on 40 to �50,000 a year keep their

benefit. But he is partly paying for this by freezing the allowances

for pensioners, in effect a tax rise for them worth nearly �700

million in 2014, and a billion after that. None of these changes

will affect the many who don't pay tax now. That includes the poorest

The Budget is giving some money to lower rate taxpayers, and for those

earning over �150,000 they are giving more, but the truth is that

not much of any great significance has changed. One big thing that has

not changed is the seven new squeeze on public finances that we

are not even halfway through. Today the Chancellor said it could mean

further cuts in the welfare Budget of 10 million a year, three times

what he has just spent on the personal allowance. The picture for

the Budget and the economy is still pretty bleak. Thank you. What does

the business community make of these changes? What is the

political verdict tonight? Nick Robinson in Downing Street for us

and Robert Peston is in the studio. Robert, what other business people

telling you? I have got to tell you, I don't remember a more positive

reaction to a Budget for many many years. That is not altogether

surprising. The Chancellor cut the rate of corporation tax by 1% above

what they had been expecting. That is �800 million a year into company

coffers. That takes the rate of corporation tax to 24%, it will be

22% on the Chancellor's plans by 2014, and he made a strong signal

that he wants to see it reduced to 20%, which would be the lowest rate

of any of the major developed economies. And then, business

leaders have been arguing very strongly for a cut in the top rate

of income tax. That is partly because they say it is very hard to

keep internationally mobile business talent if the rate of

income tax is higher than in other countries. That is fantastically

beneficial if you are a business. For every million pounds of salary

you earn, you get an extra �50,000 from that 5% cut in the top rate of

income tax. So they got perhaps more than they wanted. The

Chancellor now wants them to deliver on their end of the bargain.

A rather shocking disclosures from the Office for Budget

Responsibility, the assessment of the economy. They think business

investment will remain flat for some time to come. The Chancellor

wants them to reward him and the economy by beginning to invest more

and to hire more so that what he has given them can be given back to

all of us. Thank you. That is a big tick from business. What about the

political fall-out? That is precisely why the Chancellor has

done what he has done. George Osborne was the architect of the

phrase "we are all in it together at", so why did he said casually

ripped it up? Why did he give the opposition the many lines that Ed

Miliband deployed today? It is for economic reasons. The Chancellor is

a sceptic about the idea that he can get the economy moving with a

scheme or two. He has rejected Labour's advice that he should

spend more now. There are long-term reforms, we heard this week about

getting cash to small businesses and building new roads and

infrastructure, but the big thing he thinks that he can do is but a

great big signpost over Britain saying "open for business" and he

things you do that by doing things that are potentially unpopular with

everything else, saying you will cut taxes for rich businessmen and

for businesses and business women. That is his gamble. Labour's gamble

is that that will be so unpopular that if people look at the detail

and complain may be about what some are calling a granny tax, they will

see an unfairness and think it is not right. There is a long time

between now and the general election. Labour are not saying

they would reverse this cut in the top rate of tax. Alastair Darling

in the last government suggested that 50 pence rate itself would be

temporary. But the gamble that is now been taking his will George

Osborne be proved right about the economics and will that trod the

politics of people saying, millionairess get the money,

millions pay for it? For everything you need to know about the Budget,

including our Budget calculator which can help you work out what

has changed for you, you can go to Coming up on tonight's programme:

Across France, people pause to remember the victims of the

A British woman who has been held hostage in Somalia for the past six

months has been freed. Judith Tebbutt was released with the help

of a private security firm which negotiated a ransom, paid by her

family. Mrs Tebbutt's husband, David, was killed during the

kidnapping, which happened at a beach resort in Kenya. Frank

Gardner has the story. The final steps to freedom, then a

rush to the plane that would fly her out of Somalia. Judith Tebbutt

this morning, escorted by a private security contractor. Minutes

earlier, she spoke of her husband, murdered by pirates. I did not know

he had died. Dot -- until about two weeks from... My capture. I just

assumed he was alive but then my son told me that he had died.

ordeal began here, in Miss hut, six months ago. A secluded Kenyan beach

resort where she and her husband were the only guests. Somebody

tipped off Somali kidnappers and shortly after midnight, gunmen came

to get them. Judith's husband David was shot dead. She was carried off

to a waiting speedboat. Kenyan police searched for Judith but she

was already in Somalia. This was in effect an international kidnapping.

Judith Tebbutt was seized in northern Kenya on September 11th.

The pirates moved her to different locations, before she was finally

flown out to Nairobi today. She spoke earlier to her son who had

arranged her release. I am so excited! There were some tense

moments this morning on a Somali airstrip when her release looked

like being delayed but then she was off, whisked to safety in Kenya.

Two former hostages know the feeling. The process of release is

perhaps 30 hours of travelling towards freedom. You really get on

an adrenalin high, it is absolutely fantastic to realise you are free.

Judith Tebbutt arrived in Nairobi this afternoon in the care of the

British High Commission. The British Government says it did not

pay a ransom for her release. A family friend says the money was

raised privately and that it was substantial.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that a soldier from the

Second Battalion, The Mercian Regiment has been killed in

Afghanistan. The soldier died in an explosion in the Nahr-e Saraj

district of Helmand Province. His family has been informed.

Police in France say the man suspected of shooting dead seven

people, including three Jewish children, had been planning another

attack. Muhammed Merah, who is of Algerian origin, has been

surrounded in an apartment block in Toulouse since early this morning.

Christian Fraser has been following the day's events.

Police commanders are on site. The street lights next to his apartment

has been turned off. And it is a waiting game. But patience is

wearing thin. He is 23-year-old Mohammed Merah, a French citizen of

large European origin who said he killed on the orders of Al-Qaeda. -

- Algerian origin. The he later escaped in 2007 from Afghanistan in

a jail break, orchestrated by the Taliban. The siege is entering its

19th hour. Police said the gunman is stubborn and determined. Twice

he has indicated he will surrender, but they still wait. The main

concern for police is that he might try to take some of them with him

and they cannot be absolutely sure what weapons and explosives he has

been his flat. As teams tried to force their way into his flat this

morning, there was an exchange of fire in which two policemen were

shot. We have now spoken to the man who yesterday afternoon handed to

police their key piece of information. 10 days ago, Mohammed

Merah came to this Yamaha dealership in Toulouse to find out

how to disable the tracking device on his scooter and how he might

dismantle it. This man has known the killer since he was a teenager.

TRANSLATION: He seemed a normal kid, a bit more unruly than others, and

he did have a criminal record, but there was nothing that made me

think he was capable of such atrocious acts. At least, not until

Monday's attack on a Jewish school. A description of the bike scene at

the scene reminded this garage owner of the Mohammed Merah's

conversation. Police believe they have stopped a further attack

planned for today. Meanwhile, Mr Sarkozy paid tribute to the

sacrifice of the soldiers shot dead. A French soldier understands the

meaning of duty and knows death, he said, but a paratrooper does not

expect to be executed in his own country by one of his own

countrymen, and there will be anger tonight that a known fundamentalist,

years under surveillance, was allowed to kill seven times.

Doctors treating the Bolton Wanderers footballer, Fabrice

Muamba, say he is continuing to show signs of recovery. They have

told the BBC he was effectively dead for more than an hour after he

suffered a cardiac arrest during the game against Spurs on Saturday.

A cardiologist, who was at the game and came to help the player,

described his recovery as miraculous.

Taking a daily dose of aspirin from middle age may well protect people

against cancer. The latest evidence, based on new research, suggests

that a daily dose would not only cut the risk of developing the

disease but also reduces the chance of it spreading to other organs.

Cancer Research UK says the findings are exciting, as Fergus

Walsh explains. A new weapon against cancer? This

research suggests that in daily low dose of aspirin not only reduces

the risk of contracting cancer, but also of the disease spreading,

which is one of the main threats to survival. Aspirin prevented the

spread of existing cancer, so people in the trials who were

taking aspirin were about a third less likely to have spread of their

cancer when they were diagnosed and only half as likely for the cancer

to spread subsequently after the diagnosis. Aspirin is one of the

cheapest drugs on the market and is already used to prevent heart

disease and stroke among high risk patients. But it carries with it

the risk of internal bleeding in the stomach, intestines and brain,

and doctors say these risks should not be underestimated. We know that

even more patience, perhaps as many as 10 or 20%, will have serious

adverse reaction to aspirin and that could be serious gastro-

intestinal bleeding, and that is much more serious in too late

middle-age and 75 and above. What middle-aged people meet his

guidance as to whether they should be taking a small daily dose of

aspirin -- people need. But although this research is

compelling, it is not definitive and more studies are needed before