21/03/2012 BBC News at Six

A tax cut for Britain's top earners in George Osborne's Budget. Down 5p

in the pound from next year. The Chancellor says the riches will pay

five times as much in other taxes. Millions will see a big rise in the

amount they can earn before paying tax.

Together, the British people will share in the effort and share the

rewards. This country borrowed its way into trouble, now we're going

to earn our way out. I commend the Budget to the House. It is a

millionaire's Budget, that squeezes the middle. Wrong choices, wrong

priorities. Wrong values. Out of touch, same old Tories. Among the

loses - millions of pensioners facing a squeeze on their

retirement allowances. I don't think it's fair really because

pensioners have paid all their life into the tax system. They seem to

get penallised and left behind. From changes in child benefit to a

drop in corporation tax, we'll have all the details. Also - a flight to

freedom, the British woman released by her Somali kidnappers, with a

message to her son. I don't know how he secured my release, but he

did. I'm really happy. I can't wait to see him. French police corner

the prime suspect in the Jewish school shooting. He fired back when

they tried to arrest him. And the tookor who first treated

Fabrice Muamba tells us the player was effectively dead for more than

an hour. And I'll be here with Sportsday

later in the hour on the BBC News channel as Tevez looked set to end

his exile against the first team Good evening. Welcome to the BBC's

News at Six. George Osborne has delivered what he's called a Budget

for working families. Millions will benefit from changes to the tax

system and the richest people in Britain will be better off. From

next year, they will pay 5p in the pound less in tax. The Labour

leader attacked the Chancellor, saying he had produced a

millionaire's Budget. Among today's losers are pensions, millions of

whom will -- pensioners, millions of whom will end up with less than

they expected. There was the 50p rate cut. A significant allowance

in the tax free allowance. Many families now will keep part of

their child benefit. We'll have all the details and reaction. Our

political editor has our first report tonight.

It's a small box, it contained few surprises, but it has sparked a big

debate. In a time of austerity, who should pay less tax and who should

pay more? George Osborne left Downing Street this morning

preparing to give with one hand and take with another. There was only

one thing to ask. Are the rich going to pay their fair share,

Chancellor? He hoped it would satisfy his Liberal Democrats

colleagues and the country too, as he prepared to announce a tax cut

for those at the top. In the Commons he told MPs his changes

were fair and the wealthy would pay their share. This Budget rewards

work. Britain is going to earn its way in the world. There is no other

road to recovery. Maybe, but it was also a Budget

that cut the top rate of tax from 50p-45p for those earning more than

�150,000. No Chancellor can justify a tax

rate that damages our economy and raises next to nothing. It is as

simple as that. Labour MPs booed that, but the Chancellor had his

answer. He was raising more than �9,000 the money most of us can

earn before starting to pay tax. Taking another 800,000 people out

of tax all together. Every working person on low or

middle incomes will benefit. Millions... They loved that.

Particularly Lib Dems who have long argued for it. Millions of working

people will be �220 better off every year. For hard-pressed

families there was no freeze on fuel duty, but a relief on child

benefit. Those earning just over �42 will now keep it. Those earning

over �50,000 will lose some and those over �60,000 all of it.

750,000 families will keep some or all of their child benefit. 90% of

all families will remain eligible for child benefit. Another 1p cut

in corporation tax. All these tax cuts will cost money and someone

had to pay. Pensioners will see their tax

allowance frozen. The average existing pensioner losing �63 a

year. I will freeze the cash value of the allowance. This will protect

the existing level of allowance pensioners have, while introducing

a new single personal allowance for all. It is a major simplification.

It saves money. No pensioner will lose in cash terms. There was no

new mansion tax, but... I reward tax evasion and indeed aggressive

tax avoidance as morally repugnant. So he said as well as raising stamp

duty to 7% for houses worth more than �2 million, he could cap tax

relief for the wealthy. He claimed overall the rich would pay more.

From midnight tonight, we will introduce a new stamp duty land tax

rate of 7% on properties worth more than �2 million. In anticipation of

the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, the Chancellor

said he would cut the emergency reserve put aside for the conflict

by �2.5 billion over the next three years to help pay for his tax cuts.

Together, the British people will share in the effort and share the

rewards. This country borrowed its way into trouble, now we're going

to earn our way out. I commend the Budget to the House.

For Labour, there was only one question - why should the rich get

a tax cut? The Chancellor spoke for an hour. One of his phrases was

missing - there was one thing he didn't say. Today, marks the end of

we're all in it together. Hands up in the Cabinet if you're

going to benefit from the income tax cut. Come on! Ed Miliband said

this was the wrong priority at the wrong time. Tax credits cut, child

benefit taken away, fuel duty rising. What has he chosen to make

his priority - for Britain's millionaires a massive income tax

cut, each and every year. Just who will win and who will lose from

this gambit may take time to work out. Some were already claiming the

Budget had failed. It has failed to deliver on growth

and on fairness. So the millionaires are being treated best.

The poorest, middle earners are squeezed the most. The biggest

concern for Wales is there is a clear framework to introduce

regional pay. That will institutional Wales and the north-

west and south-west of England as Well, let's take a look at some

other measures announced today; for business and industry there'll be a

package worth �3 billion to support new drilling for oil and gas in the

new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.

In the public sector, the Chancellor has promised to press

ahead with regional pay rates for civil servants. There are no new

changes to fuel duty. It will go up D So, with household budgets under

pressure, how will the measures effect households? To get some

views our correspondent has pent the day in Northallerton, in North

Yorkshire. There is no other road to recovery.... As the Chancellor

delivered his Budget today, nobody seemed too bothered in this shop in

Northallerton high street, even though what he was saying affected

most of the people outside. Was he coming up smelling of flowers by

raising the personal tax allowance for millions of people? I think

it's about time we had some incentives to work hard in this

country. I don't really think it will make much difference to be

honest. What about specifics? Sophie Hills is a 23-year-old

graduate, what works part-time in local shops.

She earns less than �10,000 a year. She could find herself lifted out

of the tax system all together. Extra money is always good. It

allows me to work a couple more hours without worrying about that

coming off in tax, for example. Extra money, I can put it towards

things I want, maybe pay off some debts. Not everyone is happy. Cliff

and Edna today found out their tax- free allowance will be frozen. The

Government says it is about simplifying the tax system. They

are not sure. I don't think it is fair because pensioners have paid

all their life into the tax system and they seem to get penallised and

left behind. I don't think we should pay tax, to be honest with

you. Charles Barker is the boss of an independent department store in

the town. He is a 50% tax rate payer, but says cutting the rate

was not a priority for him. Personally any reduction is welcome.

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

will put more money into people's pockets. From our point of view it

will be more people through the doors with more to spend. Lisa is a

40% rate taxpayer. Until today the mum of one stood to lose all her

child benefit. After today's benefit she will keep some of it.

She is still not happy. I don't think it is fair that my neighbours

could both have a joint income of �98,000 and could both bring in the

full child benefit, where as me as one tax earner above the threshold

will have that money taken from them. It is not a fair system.

Which side of the Chancellor have you seen today? That depends on

your income, interests and ideology. Well, as we have heard, today's

winners include some parents who stood to lose child benefit and

will now keep it. Among the louzers, although not all, some -- losers,

although not all, some pensioners. With Budgets there are people who

gain and others who get hit harder. A key Budget move involved

increasing the tax allowance. The winners are basic rate taxpayers

under 65, they will be �350 a year better off. There are losers too.

The over 60s have a higher allowance. Around four million

taxpayer pensioners will be affected because their tax-free

allowance will be frozen. Pensioners have not been badly hit

in sense of losing real money. Their expectations for the future

will be managed. They will not get as such in terms of tax-free

allowances going forwards. A key part was on the wealthy. There'll

be a crackdown on avoidance, which should cover the top rate of income

tax. The Chancellor said wealthier taxpayers found ways around paying

the 50p rate and it was harming Britain's reputation as a place to

do business. This will definitely pay off. You only have to go to

another part of the world and look at Britain from a distance and see

how damaging 50p tax rate was to doing business in the UK and from

the UK. This will more than pay for itself.

Union leaders were angered by the tax break for the richest in

society. We get it reduce tods 45p because no-one was paying it. What

we should do is make sure they pay it, instead of saying we will

reduce it because they are not paying it. That is ridiculous.

Convo ver thal plans to remove -- controversial plans to remove child

benefit from some families have been amended.

The threshold will be �50,000, after which families lose some

benefit. From then on �1 will be lost for every �100 earned.

Households with someone on more than �60,000 will lose all the

benefit. Most parents are going to welcome this. It is a big change

for many families. I think there is some unfairness in the system. You

could earn �100,000 as a couple and receive it and earn �60,000 as one

person working and that does seem unfair. The Chancellor said it

would be a Budget for working households. Millions might agree

with that. A good many pensioners might see it differently. Let's get

some reaction from Robert Peston. We have heard a lot about what it

will mean for families - what about business? Well the business leaders

to whom I have spoken love this Budget. I is easy to see why. The

corporation tax is being cut by another 1% on top of the 1% which

was scheduled to happen on April 6th. That takes the corporate tax

rate down to 24%, which is one of the lowest raitds within the

developed world and the -- rates within the developed world. And the

Chancellor sent a signal he would like to see rates reduced to 20%.

Also,s I am sure you know, business leaders didn't like the 50p income

tax rate. So, they are delighted it is going down to 45p in the pound.

Delighted because of course it benefits them and they say it will

make it easier to retain the sort of talent they need in the UK.

But, the Government will now be looking to business to respond. If

you look at the forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility,

one of the things that is striking is that businesses haven't been

investing as much as the economy needs for it to recover. So the

Chancellor will now want to see business, in a sense repaying

generosity, by investing more and hiring more people.

Let's get the thoughts of our political editor, Nick Robinson -

what about the politics of all of this? The Chancellor is desperate

that people should focus on the tax cut for 23 million ordinary people,

that those who thought they were going to lose their child benefit

will tonight celebrate by saying they are not. But of course he

knows that the risk is that it will be seen as a budget for

millionaires. Why would someone who actually coined the phrase, we are

all in it together, take that huge political risk? There have been

plenty of theories, some people say he is rewarding his friends or

playing politics, but there is another theory, that he actually

believes in it. In other words, that George Osborne believes you do

not get the economy going with a scheme hear what an initiative

there, what happens is, you make cuts to taxes for businesses and

business people, who then conclude that Britain is the place to create

jobs and wealth. He believes that, but with equal passion, the Labour

Party believes that he has, in one decision, thrown away the claim

that the Conservative Party has changed and damaged the Liberal

Democrats, too. They will remind people that while some millionaires

are getting a big tax cut, and there are pensioners worried about

tax allowances tonight, and people losing their tax credits, Ed

Miliband is a gambler as well. So, who, between these two gamblers,

George Osborne and Ed Miliband, is right? Forgive me, George, I am not

confident enough to put a bet on it. For everything you need to know

about the Budget, including our Budget calculator, you can go to

our website. Our main headline - the Chancellor has announced a tax

cut for Britain's top earners and a big increase in the mouth people

can earn before paying tax. Coming up - the hospital doctor who ran

onto the pitch to save Fabrice Muamba describes the crucial

A British woman kidnapped in can you last September by a Somali gang

who killed her husband has been freed. It is understood a ransom

was paid by a private security firm working for the family. Tonight,

Judith Tebbutt is recovering in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, from where

our correspondent Will Ross reports. The dramatic rescue from Somalia,

as a security official takes Judith Tebbutt away to freedom. But

emotions are mixed. Minutes earlier, she held back the tears as she

spoke of her husband's death. not know he had died until about I

think it was two weeks, two weeks from my capture. I just assumed he

was alive, but then my son told me he had died. The terrifying ordeal

began last September, at this isolated, tranquil resort on the

Kenyan coast. In the middle of the night, an armoured gang burst into

the room, shots were fired, the gunmen bundled Judith on to a

speedboat and headed to Somalia. Her husband was left behind and

died from his injuries. Just before her flight out of Somalia, Judith

Tebbutt spoke to the man who helped raise them and some, her own son.

OK, Oliver! Mother and son have now been reunited in Kenya. On arriving

here in Nairobi, officials from the British high commission stepped in

to take care of Judith Tebbutt. The involvement of the British

Government in trying to get her released had been minimal, because

it opposes the idea of paying ransoms. Two people who know all

about the horror of captivity in Somalia and the joy of being set

free are Paul and Rachel Chandler. The process of release, you really

get an adrenalin high, it is absolutely fantastic to realise

you're free. As Judith Tebbutt puts it, now is the time to pick up the

pieces and move on. The Ministry of Defence has announced that a

soldier from the 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment has been killed in

Afghanistan. The soldier died in an explosion in Helmand province. His

family have been informed. The prime suspect in the killing of

seven people in France is surrounded by a leaked police

commandos tonight. Shots have been fired at the house in Toulouse

where negotiators have spent the day trying to persuade the man to

give himself up. Our correspondent sent this report. They swooped in

the early hours of the morning. Intelligence gathered in the

biggest manhunt France has known led them to an apartment in this

quiet residential street. Inside was the gunman responsible for

seven murders. His name is Mohammed Merah, a 24 yet French citizen who

was arrested in Afghanistan and is known to the intelligence services.

As they tried to force their way into the flat, there was an

exchange of fire in which two policemen were shot and injured.

The gunman's brother was arrested in a separate operation. His mother

was brought to the scene to try to talk him out. We have no spoken to

the man who yesterday afternoon handed police their key piece of

information. 10 days ago, Mohammed Merah came to this Yamaha franchise

to find out how to disable the tracking device on his powerful

scooter, and how he could dismantle it to respray it. This man has

known the teenager since he was a teenager. 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. The description of the repainted bike which was

spotted at the scene reminded the bike dealer of the previous

conversation, and immediately he phoned the police. The President

has come to congratulate the police on a job well done, but serious

questions will be asked. How did unknown fundamentalist who had long

been under surveillance manage to kill seven people, and how did he

gather such an extraordinary arsenal of weapons, which was found

in the boot of his car, without raising the concerns of the

surveillance teams that were following him? For the families who

were today attending the funerals of the victims, in Israel and in

France, there will be anger and frustration that maybe this could

have been prevented. Two weeks ago, Mohammed Merah appeared in court

charged with a minor driving offence. It was the last

opportunity to stop the man who would soon become the most

dangerous killer in France. The doctors treating the footballer

Fabrice Muamba have described his recovery has remarkable. The 23-

year-old had a cardiac arrest at Tottenham on Saturday, and is

currently being treated at the London chest Hospital. Help from a

cardiologist who ran on to the pitch from the stands may have made

all the difference, as Dan Roan reports. He is the pitch invader

who became a life saver. When Fabrice Muamba collapsed on

Saturday, Spurs fan Andrew Deaner recognised all the signs of a

cardiac arrest. He joined in the effort to help the midfielder and

continued to treat him on the way to hospital. Today he told me what

prompted him to act. As soon as I saw them starting CPR, something

twitched in me. My brother said, go and help. We managed to persuade

one of the stewards we know, because we sit in the same place,

to take me down. One of the most promising young players in the

Premier League, Fabrice Muamba remains in intensive care, but he

has already had a conversation with the man who saved his life. I said,

I understand you're pretty good footballer. He said, I try. To have

Yuma, when you have been through 80 minutes of CPR, is phenomenal. I

stood back and I had tears in my eyes. The plate of Muamba has

united football, with messages of support pouring in from all over

the world. The consultant now in charge of his treatment is

optimistic. OK it is fair to say that his outcome has been

extraordinary, and I'm sure that is because of the extraordinary care

he received at White Hart Lane and from the ambulance service. These

are still early days in his recovery, but doctors are adamant

that it was the medical attention he received on the pitch and on the

way here which has proved crucial in giving Fabrice Muamba the chance

in giving Fabrice Muamba the chance of a normal life. Time for the

weather. Once again we have seen a big rise in temperatures today, in

the sunshine, but we are cutting back on cloud tonight, and with the

clear skies, it will be a chilly night. There will be a touch of

frost forming in many spots by the morning. There will be a bit more

cloud across the north-west of Scotland and also the south-west of

England, with a few showers here as well. But in between, clear skies.

Some of you will be waking up to a frost in the morning, but for many,

sunshine overhead. A little bit more cloud in north-west Scotland.

Most areas will be dry. Inland, just some fair weather cloud, with

long spells of sunshine. The major exception will be the eastern

coasts of England and Scotland, there will be a chilly wind coming

off the North Sea. This will limit to be just. Thursday night into

Friday, a few showers working through Western areas, which

continues into Friday. -- western areas. Friday will be a bright and

reasonably mild day. Into the weekend, high-pressure building.

For many it will be another dry and For many it will be another dry and

More now on our top story, the Budget. The Chancellor has

announced changes to the tax threshold, the top rate of tax and

child benefit. Our economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, has been

tracking every move. She is outside Number 11 Downing Street at the

moment - where does this Budget leave the economy? It is

interesting, it is one of those budgets where you could say that

the big picture on growth and borrowing has not really changed

since George Osborne gave his last statement, and it has not really

changed since he sat down. All of those announcements, all of the tax

changes which we will be debating in the weeks to come, have not left

a very different situation, in the sense that at the end of this

Parliament, the balance between tax and spending could be very similar.

But that assumes that the tax and there -- Chancellor has not just

given a big tax cut to the rich. His judgment that the reduction in

the top rate will not cost him very much because wealthy people tend to

change their behaviour wealthy, that's one that people will be

debating, not just the politicians, but the experts as well. What we do

know is that the Office for Budget Responsibility thinks it is a

reasonable judgment, but an uncertain one. What we do know

about basic rate taxpayers is that they will be paying less tax next

year, and we know that many people will not be paying tax at all next

year as a result of these changes. We also know, Susie afraid, that we

are only halfway through a seven- year unprecedented period of

austerity tax rises and spending cuts, which will be affecting all

of us. And we found out today that it could involve another �10

billion in welfare cuts after 2014. So, I guess, this debate about the

top rate will light up the political landscape for a long time