Brown 'plans £150 winter give-away'

12 April 2012

Millions of families could be in line for a windfall of about £150 this winter as Gordon Brown seeks to reinvigorate his troubled premiership, it emerged.

Ministers are understood to be considering the one-off payment to all households in receipt of child benefit as part of a major economic package planned for the autumn.

The move, which officials stressed had not yet been given final approval, would help more than seven million families hit by soaring fuel bills.

It is one of a series of measures being mooted as part of an autumn fightback by the Prime Minister.

Another is a temporary suspension of stamp duty, designed to give the declining housing market a boost.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) indicated that further help with fuel bills was being considered, but insisted no decisions had been taken.

The fuel payment plan - as reported - would go to everybody with children, rather than being targeted at the neediest, signalling Mr Brown's desire to appeal to Middle England.

It was apparently overheard by a commuter travelling in the same train carriage as a top Whitehall mandarin last month. Sir Brian Bender, permanent secretary at DBERR, was said to have discussed the plans in front of fellow passengers on a GNER train between Leeds and London.

It follows the £120 tax cut awarded to 22 million people earlier this year as the credit crunch took hold. That was announced in response to the 10p tax row, which seriously damaged Labour's standing.

But the £2.7 billion U-turn benefited all basic rate taxpayers, rather than just the four million affected by the abolition of the 10p band.

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