Duty-free bid for Rooney vote

DEMONSTRATING his populist skills, the Chancellor today revealed he has written to the EU and other European member states to ask for a rise in the limits on duty-free shopping.

Gordon Brown said that currently anyone returning to the UK or another European state has to pay duty on any new goods worth more than £145.

'This limit was last revised in 1994,' he declared, adding that it was time for an increase but that such a move required EU approval.

The Chancellor's move would ensure that tourists such as Coleen McLoughlin, the teenage girlfriend of the £27m Manchester United football star Wayne Rooney, would have had a little more leeway when returning from her New York shopping trip two months ago.

Officials found that Ms McLoughlin had more than £40,000-worth of undeclared designer clothes and jewellery in her luggage when she was stopped at Manchester airport.

She insisted at the time that she was 'entirely unaware' that she had to pay import duty on valuables over a total value of £145.

Tax experts say that any increase would, however, be modest and certainly wouldn't cover more than a fraction of Ms McLoughlin's shopping.

Nevertheless, Mr Brown's decision to address such a populist yet relatively trivial issue in his Pre-Budget Report indicates that he has more than fiscal responsibility in his sights.

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