MORE than a million people in the region will pay less income tax from tomorrow (Saturday, April 6), according to Government figures.

The personal allowance for under-65s will rise from £8,105 to £9,440, benefiting 961,000 people in the North-East and a further 285,400 in North Yorkshire and York, officials say.

According to figures released by the Cabinet Office, 120,340 people in the region have been lifted out of paying tax altogether since 2010.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said April 6 heralded a major income tax cut for ordinary working people - a move first campaigned for by the Liberal Democrats.

He added: “Across the country, 20 million people will pay £600 less income tax than they paid under Labour.

“Here in the North-East, almost a million basic rate taxpayers will reap the benefits. People on the lowest incomes will pay no income tax at all.”

He added: “It’s a policy that my party first came up with in opposition. A promise that has now travelled from the front cover of our manifesto onto the pages of the coalition agreement, and now onto people’s wage slips.”

Mr Clegg said he received the message that thousands of families were feeling the squeeze “loud and clear” when he visited the region in October.

“We need to make sure those families get real help in these tough times,” he added.

But Phil Wilson, Labour MP for Sedgefield, claimed it was the rich that were the real winners from the tax changes.

He said: "This Saturday David Cameron is giving a tax cut worth £100,000 to a few thousand millionaires and at the same time pushing through tax and benefit changes that will make the average hard-working family worse off by £891 each year.

“What they give in one hand they take away with another. People will not be fooled by this Government when they are seeing their incomes squeezed and the cost of living rising.”

According to the Government, more than 24 million people will pay less tax from Saturday, with more than two million lifted out of tax altogether since 2010.