Times: Gordon Brown pays £2.7 billion to end 10p tax crisis

In a move to counter a back-bench revolt the chancellor performed one of the biggest U-turns in modern times by borrowing £2.7 billion to patch up the mess created by Brown. Analysts point out that raising the £2.7 bn will have to be paid for by additional taxes or cuts in public spending. Regardless of the massive cash injection 1 million of the lowest rate tax-payers will lose out as a result of the abolition of the 10p rate. Cynics could look at the Darling's statement as the tax payer being asked to pay for Gordon Brown political survival or a sweetener in the face of the Crewe & Nantwich by-election. Alternatively the prime minister is starting to listen. Whichever way you chose to view it, the whole mess has been created by astoundingly poor decision making by the Gordon Brown