Chancellor Alistair Darling today ploughed hundreds of millions of pounds into housing projects, green initiatives and benefits.

But his Budget will also impose a 50 per cent top rate of tax on those earning more than £150,000 a year, from April next year.

Gerry Jackson, tax partner at Oxford-based accountants Critchleys, said: “The crucial point is that he did not want to raise any taxes on the average man in the street.

“But any extra tax he gains from the rich will be relatively modest and he has done it for political purposes as an election ploy.”

Sharon Bedford, associate at Botley finance firm James & Cowper, added: “This Budget will see tax payers paying for the economic mess for many years to come.”

Mr Jackson was also cynical about the announcement all under-25s would be offered jobs or training. He said: “It sounds like they are ‘inventing’ jobs to massage the unemployment figures without addressing the underlying problems.”

Good news came for pensioners as Mr Darling insisted that the higher level of winter fuel allowance would be maintained for another year.

The basic pension will also be increased by at least 2.5 per cent, regardless of inflation falling below zero per cent.

And in a bid to kick-start the housing market, £500m will be ploughed into new-build projects, with a further £100m for councils to build green homes.

The stamp duty holiday for homes up to £175,000 will also be extended to the end of the year.

Mr Jackson said: “There are not that many properties in Oxford below £175,000, so it will not help many first-time buyers here.”

Business leaders were also disappointed by a Budget that delivered little encouragement for firms, such as a cut in corporation tax.

Small traders also said there was little to help them, such as increased tax relief, while the fuel duty rise would hit delivery costs.

Motorists will get £2,000 discount on new cars if they trade in cars older than 10 years under the car scrappage scheme in the next year.


Single mum Kelly Williams, 22, lives in a housing association flat in Littlemore with her five-year-old daughter Alliyah.

Miss Williams works 12 hours part time a week at a fitness centre in Oxford.

She said: “I haven’t got a pound to my name — I am not getting very much help at all.

“I was better off on benefits. I would like the Government to arrange more after-school clubs because it is so hard to find a 9am to 3pm job — most jobs are 9am to 5pm. It would help single parents out.”

Miss Smith dismissed Alistair Darling’s claim the economy would start to recover next year.

But she backed a two per cent tax increase on cigarettes – even though she smokes – because she thought it would help people to quit.

Miss Williams also applauded an increase in funds for Jobcentre Plus centres and training under for 25s.


Pensioners Stan White, 76, and his wife Ilma 75, live in a two bedroom house in Kidlington and try to make ends meet on a combined state pension of £176.43 a week.

This year Mr White has had to dip into savings to pay gas and electric bills. He said OAPs needed a bigger rise in pensions and winter fuel allowances than the one announced yesterday. He said: “My main worry is trying to keep this house warm during the winter. The pension rise is still too little and doesn’t cover the cost of living. The winter fuel payment is very welcome but we need more than £250.” He welcomed a new initiative giving working age grandparents who care for their children National Insurance credits for their state pension. He also welcomed a new scheme to give anyone aged between 18-25 who is out of work for a year a job, training or a work placement.

Out-of-work dad Doug Foreshew, 50, lives in a three bedroom house in Witney with his partner and two sons, aged 13 and 11.

Mr Foreshew lost his job at BMW in February after four years as an agency worker. He now works six hours a week as a gardener — which he said made him ineligible for Jobseekers’ Allowance.

He plans to set up his own gardening business soon.

Mr Foreshew said he thought fuel duty was already too high before the 2p per litre price rise announced yesterday.

He said he backed plans to help get people back to work, but said the positions he had seen in Jobcentre Plus were ridiculously low paid for a man with two children and a mortgage.

Mr Foreshew added: “Since I finished at BMW I have had about £300 in total. I had to borrow £500 this month to pay my mortgage.

“If we come out of the recession by the end of the year I will be very surprised.”


Florist Matthew Taylor, who runs Fabulous Flowers, in Banbury Road, Oxford, said: “There’s very little here for small businesses like mine. There is lots of talk about helping us, but not much action. For anyone who makes deliveries the increase in fuel duty is a problem. But then the increase in capital allowance from 20 per cent to 40 per cent will be a help. “I think they are worrying about the election because most of the taxes and spending cuts are scheduled for after it. But people will always be wanting flowers: they get born, they marry, and they die.”

Publican Damian Cawood remained defiant in the face of a two per cent rise in beer tax which he said would help kill off the pub trade.

The landlord of the Fox and Hounds, in Uffington, said: “He won’t kill me off though. I shall keep working for nothing, which is what I often do, working all hours God sends.

“I think he should have levied a tax on alcohol bought in supermarkets and left pubs alone.”