Osborne cuts company tax, bank levy; increases living wage

London

UK CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer George Osborne cut company taxes and the levy on banks as he squeezed welfare and announced a new national living wage in the first budget by a Tory-majority government in almost two decades.

Taunting the Labour opposition that his Conservative Party is the true champion of working people, Mr Osborne said he'll maintain the pace at which Britain has been reducing its budget deficit since 2010, rather than increasing it. He put back by a year the target for achieving a fiscal surplus to ease pressure on public services.