From next week, no one will pay any income tax on the first £10,000 they earn.

By raising the personal allowance, the Liberal Democrats in Government will have given a £700 tax cut to 25 million workers – including more than 37,000 in the Chippenham constituency.

It’s what we set out to do on the front page of our manifesto in 2010, and I’m delighted that we have been able to do it.

In last week’s Budget, we went even further: the personal allowance will rise to £10,500 next year, turning that £700 tax cut into an £800 one.

It’ll mean that 3.2 million people across the country have been taken out of paying income tax altogether.

This will also bring the personal allowance into line with the allowance for those aged 65-75, meaning that we will at last see an end to the taxman’s clawback that left many pensioners on modest incomes paying a marginal tax rate of 30 per cent, something I have raised with Ministers in Parliament.

The Liberal Democrats have also already made significant improvements to the pensions system, including introducing the ‘triple lock’ which has increased the basic state pension by £12.50 a week since the General Election.

The Budget built on these with further big reforms, pioneered by my Liberal Democrat colleague, Pensions Minister Steve Webb.

By removing the need to be tied into buying annuities, the Government is giving people more flexibility over how and when they access the money they have saved in their pension pots.

There was welcome news for Wiltshire Air Ambulance too. The Chan-cellor announced that the Government will give enough funding to air ambulance charities to pay the VAT on their fuel bills for the next five years and help them keep their helicopters in the air.

As vice-chairman of Parliament’s All-Party Air Ambulance Group, I know from the meetings we’ve had with air ambulance charities that they could really use this help.

Local people go to great lengths to support the charity that pays for our air ambulance, and I am glad to see the Government is making a contribution too.

After constituency surgeries in Corsham and Chipp-enham, my next will be at my office in Avonbridge House, Chippenham, today, from noon-1.30pm and at Melksham Town Hall on Saturday, from 9-10.30am.