§ Mr. JackTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what would be the cost of raising the married man's personal allowance to £10,000 for pensioners;
(2) what would be the cost of raising the personal allowance to £7,300 for all single pensioners.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[holding answers 4 May 1988]: The full year cost, at 1988–89 levels of income, of raising the age allowances to £7,300 for single people and to £10,000 for married couples would be about £580 million and £620 million respectively. The estimates are based on a projection of the 1985–86 survey of personal incomes and are therefore provisional.