Families to get £150 windfall in Brown fightback
Ministers are understood to be considering the one-off payment to all households in receipt of child benefit as part of an economic package planned for the autumn.
The move, which officials stressed had not yet been given final approval, would help more than seven million families hit by soaring fuel bills.
It is one of a series of measures being mooted as part of an autumn fightback by Brown.
Another is a temporary suspension of stamp duty, designed to give the declining housing market a boost.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform indicated yesterday that further help with fuel bills was being considered, but insisted no decisions had been taken.
The fuel payment plan would go to everybody with children, rather than being targeted at the neediest.
Plans to give the economy a much-needed lift are being drawn up as Brown’s poll ratings plummet.
The Tories are 20 points ahead of Labour, according to a YouGov survey for the News of the World yesterday. It also suggested Labour would do better without Brown at the helm.
Tony Woodley, joint leader of super-union Unite, urged the government to “get a grip” yesterday.
“Labour needs to be on the side of ordinary voters, huge swathes of whom are union members wanting to see less appeasement of business people who do not and never will vote Labour,” he told The Observer.
