Somebody correct me if I'm wrong...higher-rate taxpayers will gain £600 x 20%, or £120 for the year. But they will also lose an additional £600 x 40%, or £240 for the year. This is not a stroke of genius by Chancellor, it's giving a pound with one hand and taking two pounds away with the other!

Christos, Athens, Greece

A fat lot of good that'll do, he needs to reduce fuel duty, showroom tax should be removed completely and vehicle excise duty reduced to sensible levels. New Labour have only managed to reduce this countries economy to levels never seen before! the economic equivalent to Dantes Inverno's I think!!!

KEN S, SEDGEFIELD, DURHAM

Dan, London,

Brown has NOT addressed the issue of the 10p tax band. There will still be 1.1 million low paid workers paying MORE tax. The man is completeley inept or viciously opposed to low paid workers. Socialist?......Never.

judy, Liverpool, England

Will taxpayers over 65 whose personnal allowance is £5435 see this increased to £6035?

Yet another case of confusion in government statements.

William Cheetham, Stafford,

I think that New Labour are now penalising the people who brought thm to power - the middle classes. There is no way they will stay in power - I can forgive mistakes but not disloyalty.

Pete, Maldon, Essex,

Absolutely no shame in a u-turn if it addresses this 10p issue as well as stimulating the economy and compensating households for higher food costs. A politically brave thing to do.

Dan, London,

The problem is, Dan, it does neither. We will all pay for it 'tomorrow'.

Edwin, Bucharest,

Mike Lincoln Wakefield,

What you say about labour is true - but then it always has been.

Speaking of has-beens, goodbye Gordon and thanks for nothing.

j griffiths, manchester, england

No, the government have not borrowed an extra 2.7bn to fund the 'one off' tax cut.

The 2.7bn has been borrowed to fund a continuing spending spree (olympics, id cards, wars, management consultants etc). They are just going to take £120 less from us this year.

Live within your means!

Tony Humphreys, Prestatyn, UK

This debacle has forced a Labour government into tax cuts,
which will force them to curtail public spending in the future.
And blown open the myth that tax cuts cannot be afforded. we
need more of the same.

Roger, Weymouth, England

Reminder of the last election as I mentioned previously. Voter, lady, middle aged - asked on Radio 2 - does she think Labour are any good. No was reply. Will you vote against New Labour then? No was the reply. Why? Because it is my working class duty to vote New Labour!

Result = UK as it is now.

Paul, London, Canada

Phil Philippou -'have people forgotten how bad it was before New Labour?' - Well, two answers - most people are concerned with what it's like after 11 years of 'New' Labour (bye bye civil liberties just in case you hadn't noticed); and, second, have people forgotten how bad it was under Callaghan?

Ian, Bristol,

Phil from Nottingham: many of us actually remember how GOOD things were before New Labour and miss our country dearly.

Neil, Oxford, UK

they are financing this by borrowing? why not just instill the 10p tax band again...problem solved!

Alex, London, England

If this helps the country come back to its collective senses than it's a small price to pay... I can't remember as febrile and irrational a time like the last few months since Diana died and we had some sort of national catharsis. Have people forgotten how bad things were before New Labour??

Phil Philippou, Nottingham, UK

Labour is now a give away high spend Government. They are now breaking every economic rule in the book. This is totally irresponsible and deserve to get kicked out of office.

mike lincoln, wakefield,

I personally believe that the surprise measures announced by the Chancellor will benefit the many, not the few. Essentially, it will address the 10p tax rate abolition. This move is "humiliating" for the Conservatives. After all they cynically criticised the Gvt. with no solution of their own.

James Thurston, Northampton, United Kingdom

Amazing how us borrowing too much has fuelled the credit crunch, but it's ok for the government to do the same. Don't they learn anything?

nick, ledbury,

I am amazed at the lack of competence of this shower. The extra unfunded spending will cause yet further weakness in the pound, as we borrow tens of billions YET AGAIN for the nth year, and we import far more inflation than this £120.

They haven't got a clue and are making it up as they go along.

Jon Cooper, herts, UK,

The people aged over 65 were not an issue. It was people aged 60-64. They did not receive the increase in the over 65 tax allowance. Either way, this government is a headless chicken - unfunded tax cuts, bad planning, broken "golden rule" - knock someone over and claim credit for helping them up.

Tim, Leeds, England

Borrow to invest, not to spend.

roger, london,

He may think this solves everything but the people with less money will still lose out and like borrowing money is really going to help in the long run.

sophie, Castle Cary,

Want to bet that the 40p rate will be moved to recoup the 2.7bn + a lot more

Malcolm, London,

Over 65's were given proportionately higher age allowance in the 2007 Budget to offset the removal of the 10% rate so no adjustment required.

Howard Lines, Poynton, UK

People are aged 65 or over already benefit from an increased personal allowance (well, unless they're earning sufficiently large amounts).

Alistair Gunn, York, UK

Absolutely no shame in a u-turn if it addresses this 10p issue as well as stimulating the economy and compensating households for higher food costs. A politically brave thing to do.

Dan, London,

"The Chancellor said that today's one-off measures"
which means that next year these measures will be removed.
By all accounts these changes are for this tax year only. Are the government hoping that this will not be an issue in the next tax year?

Bernard, Edinburgh, Scotland

This operation save Gordon. Brown once said, he makes a decision based on what is best for the country. Tell us Gordon how is this prudent, stabalises the economy and benefits the country? I await your reply.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

Until we've seen an independent analysis of the changes I wouldn't trust this bunch of charlatans in power one iota. Too many time has Brown/Darling been caught out with their smoking mirrors that although the headlines look good, I'm holding judgment until the experts look at their changes

Mike, Alicante, Spain

Ms Wood - people over 65 were not "just as affected" as there was a significant increase in Age Related Personal Allowances as a part of the existing budget.

Abi Wood, London,

From the earlier 'The budget cannot be re-written' statement we now all of a sudden have this latest bit of finacial magic that Nu Labour has dreamed up and thinks will right all of their wrongs. Think again Nu Labour your time is up !!

Andrew, Nr Cambridge, UK

So what happens to people from 65 onward who are just as affected.

Janet Wood, Penrith, UK