Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has scrapped his plans to cut tax credits.
The Guardian reports:
George Osborne has executed a complete U-turn on his controversial cuts to tax credits, as he delivered what he called, "a big spending review from a government that does big things"... But delivering his combined autumn statement and spending review, the chancellor said higher-than-expected tax revenues and lower interest payments on government debt had opened up an extra £27bn of fiscal wriggle-room, which would allow him to cancel the cuts altogether.
The paper points out that reversing the much-feared cuts is not just a U-turn on the proposals he set out four months ago, but also represents a breach of the welfare cap which he intended to put a limit on the cost of social security.
Quite what this means isn't yet clear - £12bn is still set to be cut from the welfare bill, after all - but Osborne says he'll do so in a way that helps families.
What it hopefully means is that families won't face the squeeze on their income that many of us have been fearing.
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