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We will not raise the
We will not raise the basic or top rates of income tax in the next
Parliament.We renew our pledge not to extendVAT to food, children’s
clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares.We will continue
to make targeted tax cuts for families and to support work. As a
result of personal tax and benefit measures introduced since 1997, by
October 2005 families with children will be on average £1,400 a year
better off in real terms. Living standards in Britain have been rising, on
average, by 2.5 per cent per year since 1997 – a total increase of
nearly 20 per cent.