Brazen attack on the people

Bullingdon bounder Osborne horsed around with the truth by claiming that the "central goal" of his Budget was "to support working families."

But trade unionists and Labour MPs were not fooled by his brazen Commons performance.

They highlighted his continuing vicious attack on wages, public services and pensions while wealthy bankers will be allowed to run riot with vast multimillion-pound bonuses.

In the small print of his Budget was the threat of an extra £10 billion cut in welfare spending by 2016 on top of swingeing cuts already announced.

Left Labour MPs warned that a new tsunami of spending cuts would soon hit the British people, since only a small fraction of the Con-Dem cuts programme has been implemented so far.

Luton North MP Kelvin Hopkins declared: "The cuts that are coming make everything that has happened so far look negligible. They are going to be massive.

"I think it is insane. It is going to drive the economy into depression."

Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery protested: "This is not about sensible politics. It is about ideology."

Mr Osborne claimed that he was making a major attack on tax evasion and hitting the rich by taxing properties worth more than £2 million.

He then admitted that his "new taxes on the rich" would raise barely £500m annually.

This figure contrasted with the £100bn lost through tax evasion every year, according to tax officers' union PCS.

The Chancellor sought to please his Lib Dem allies by raising the lower income tax threshold to £9,205. He said this would leave millions of working people better off by £220 per year, or £170 after allowing for inflation.

And he pleased Tory backbenchers by cutting the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p by next year.

Corporation tax on companies will be slashed further to 24 per cent next month, and to 22 per cent by 2014, which Mr Osborne boasted would be "dramatically lower" than the US, Japan, Germany or France.

At the same time, the tame levy on banks is designed to raise just £2.5bn a year after a puny rise announced on Wednesday.

Britain's "tax system is more competitive for business than any other major economy in the world," boasted Mr Osborne.

Despite his pledge to help working people, he launched a vicious new attack on workers' pay by confirming further moves to end national pay bargaining in the public sector.

Some civil servants will face regional pay bargaining by the end of this year.

Mr Osborne also confirmed that a new single tier state pension would be introduced for future pensioners, worth "around £140" a week.

Rail union RMT general secretary Bob Crow declared: "The tinkering at the lower end of the tax scale will be swallowed up by increased utility bills and travel costs."

Communist Party general secretary Rob Griffiths condemned the millionaire Chancellor for his "budget of the rich, by the rich, for the rich."

And general union GMB general secretary Paul Kenny commented: "Osborne has as much economic nous as a stick of rhubarb."

rogerbagley@peoples-press.com