George Osborne scraps tax credit cuts in welfare U-turn
by Heather Stewart, Nicholas Watt and Rowena Mason from on (#VPWY)
Chancellor says in autumn statement that improvement in public finances means he is able to ditch controversial cut
George Osborne executed a U-turn on planned cuts to tax credits, using an unexpected 27bn fiscal windfall in a bid to defuse a damaging political row.
The chancellor had promised to modify his plan, which would have cost low-income families an average of 1,000 a year, after a rebellion in the Lords and among his own MPs.
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