EAST Hampshire MP Damian Hinds has welcomed the latest employment figures and support for families in the new tax year.

Last month’s Office for National Statistics figures revealed employment hit a record high – 32.26 million – up by more than three million since 2010, and the rate of employment was at 75.4 per cent, the highest since comparable records began in 1971.

Mr Hinds welcomed the latest figures. He said: “We’re fortunate in East Hampshire to have one of the lowest claimant rates in the country, and the employment numbers are encouraging, particularly with news that wages are now rising faster than prices.

“Together with measures that came into effect in the new tax year, I think it’s exactly the news people want to hear, keeping taxes low for hard-working families and businesses.”

The Education Secretary added that tax-free personal allowances have risen from £11,500 to £11,850A

A typical basic-rate taxpayer will now pay at least £1,000 less in income tax in 2018-19 than in 2010, benefitting around 49,000 of his constituents.

He added: “Income tax has been cut for more than 30 million people since 2010, with 500,000 taxpayers lifted out of the higher rate and four million of the lowest paid taken out of paying income tax altogether.

“More than two million workers have been given a pay rise by increasing the national living wage and the national minimum wage.

“The increase in the national living wage from £7.50 to £7.83 means full-time workers will earn £2,000 more per year than they did when it was introduced in 2016.”

Fuel duty had been frozen for the eighth successive year, saving car drivers some £850 and van drivers more than £2,100 compared to previous government’s plans, he added.

Alcohol duties have also been frozen. Cuts and freezes made to beer duty since 2013 means tax on a typical pint will now be 12p lower.

Stamp duty has been cut for 95 percent of first-time buyers, and over the next five years the tax will help more than a million first-time buyers get onto the housing ladder. Some 60,000 buyers have already benefited.

Switching the business rate indexation two years earlier than planned, will save a typical high street shop £800 and restaurants more than £1,600 by 2022-23. Pubs with a rateable value of £100,000 or less will get a £1,000 discount on business rates.

Up to 36,000 pubs could benefit, said Mr Hinds, who used to work in the pub trade before becoming an MP.

The East Hampshire MP added: “The freeze in fuel duty is particularly welcome for people in rural areas such as East Hampshire, with the freeze in alcohol duties a boost for the many pubs that lie at the heart of our local communities.

“With higher than average house prices, we know that getting on the housing ladder is a challenge for local young people, so the cut in stamp duty for first-time buyers is an important way to help address that.

“And, importantly, the business rate changes will help the thousands of traders and shops that remain the backbone of our local economy.”