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Osborne unveils pay and tax plans | |
(18 minutes later) | |
Shadow chancellor George Osborne has unveiled proposals to tackle Britain's debts - including a public sector pay freeze in 2011. | |
He told the Conservative conference in Manchester that only frontline soldiers and people on less than £18,000 a year would still get rises. | |
He said the freeze would help protect jobs and repeatedly stressed the whole country was "in this together". | |
And he warned bankers he may tax their bonuses if they were deemed excessive. | |
Pension cap | |
Mr Osborne said he wanted to be straight with voters about the scale of cuts needed and repeatedly said that the better-off must take their share of the pain. | |
He said he could not think of abolishing Labour's new 50% tax rate on the rich "while at the same time I am asking many of our public sector workers to accept a pay freeze to protect their jobs". | |
In a series of measures that are likely to form the backbone of the Conservative election manifesto, Mr Osborne proposed a freeze on the pay of government ministers and curbs on "excessive salaries at the top of Whitehall". | |
TORY CONFERENCE TWEETS | |
Twitter: @BBCLauraK | |
To clarify-public workers over 18k pay freeze,cuts to child trust fund + tax credits,and later retirement- members delighted in hall #cpc09 7 minutes ago Osborne making big pitch on being honest with the public 'we are all in this together' #cpc09 32 minutes ago cuts to child trust funds,and tax credits-osborne's audience clapping those ideas #cpc09 35 minutes ago osborne-we respect public sector workers but all on less than 18 grand to have pay frozen apart from military #cpc09 41 minutes ago big cheer for getting rid of regional assemblies-tories would cut cost of whitehall by a third #cpc09 47 minutes ago What is this? | |
Any new public employee with a salary greater than the level of the prime minister would need special permission from the Treasury. | Any new public employee with a salary greater than the level of the prime minister would need special permission from the Treasury. |
And he said the time had come to "find ways to impose a £50,000 annual cap on the size of public sector pension payouts". | |
He also vowed to cut the cost of Whitehall - proposing to slash departmental budgets by a third during the lifetime of Parliament. | |
Tax credits for families earning more than £50,000 a year would be ended and the child trust fund would be limited to the poorest third in society. | Tax credits for families earning more than £50,000 a year would be ended and the child trust fund would be limited to the poorest third in society. |
But child benefit will be preserved as a universal benefit and the party would not axe the winter fuel payment or free TV licences for pensioners, he said. | But child benefit will be preserved as a universal benefit and the party would not axe the winter fuel payment or free TV licences for pensioners, he said. |
Mr Osborne also confirmed plans revealed on Monday to bring forward a rise in the age at which people can claim a state pension. | |
Explaining the need for the tough package of measures, he said: "These are the honest choices in the world in which we live and we have made them today. | |
"Anyone who tells you these choices can be avoided in not telling you the truth. We are all in this together." |