David Cameron pledges tax cuts

David Cameron has pledged to cut taxes for thirty million people if the Conservatives win next year's election.

Cheering the faithful as he closed the Conservative conference, he said he wanted to raise the tax-free personal allowance from £10,500 to £12,500.

He also said the threshold for the 40p income tax rate would be raised from £41,900 to £50,000 under a future Conservative government.

The changes would back people who "do the right thing", he said.

In his speech in Birmingham, Mr Cameron also said:

A Conservative government would protect the NHS budget for the next Parliament
The UK could not "walk on by" in the battle with Islamic State extremists
He would "get what Britain needs" in EU negotiations
A vote for UKIP at the next election would be "a vote for Labour"
He would scrap the Human Rights Act
Every teenager could get a place on the National Citizenship Service scheme

Both tax reform proposals were given lengthy ovations.

Increasing the personal allowance would take one million of the lowest-paid out of income tax and give a tax cut to 30 million more, Mr Cameron said.

Somebody working a 30-hour week on the minimum wage would pay no tax, he said: "Nothing, zero, zilch."

-bbc