Parliamentary Questions - Written Replies

TAX BURDEN: the reduction in the tax burden has been greater for the higher-paid than for a married man on pounds 10,000 a year since the Tories came to power in 1979, according to Treasury statistics supplied to Nick Brown, a Labour spokesman on Treasury affairs. He said the tax burden for a married man as a percentage of gross income fell by 0.8 per cent to 11.1 per cent for a married man earning pounds 10,000 a year. But it fell by 3.2 per cent for a married man earning pounds 15,000, and 4.4 per cent for a married man on pounds 20,000 a year.

EC BUDGET: the Edinburgh summit agreed to an increase in spending of 31 per cent for the European Community budget compared to spending totals last year, Sir John Cope, Paymaster-General, told Sir Teddy Taylor, a leading anti-Maastricht Tory MP.

CHANNEL TUNNEL: British Rail hoped to start trials of a pre-production series Channel tunnel passenger train in June, Roger Freeman, the public transport minister, said.