On the morning after the great climbdown over the 10p tax rate, the compensation package offered by the Government may not be as generous as Labour MPs had hoped. In an email to Labour colleagues, the leader of the revolt Frank Field says that the deal he struck with Gordon Brown would cover everyone who lost out from the abolition of the 10p rate and be backdated to this month (the start of the financial year).
But the Government is not quite going that far and the Tories already smell a rat. The Chancellor Alistair Darling has promised that the compensation for 60-64 year-olds, probably through the winter fuel allowance, will be backdated to the start of this financial year.
But he is not promising to compensate all the losers and does not to use the word "backdated" for non-pensioners - mainly people without children and under 25s, who don't qualify for tax credits. In the Commons today, Darling stressed that his "focus is to ensure that we allow the average losses from the abolition of the 10p band to be offset for this year."
Not quite the same as full backdating - and the use of average losses means that some people may get more or less than they lost.
Darling and his Treasury ministers are refusing to give more details while their officials work out the fine print of the rescue package. All will not be revealed until the Pre-Budget Report this autumn. The package may help Labour a little at next week's local elections, but I suspect that Darling will have to bow to pressure to provide more detail before the autumn.
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