Deputy PM Nick Clegg’s claim that scrapping tax for Britain’s lowest earners is key to lifting people out of poverty was rubbished yesterday by new TUC research.

The election-conscious Lib Dem leader has squabbled with Tory pals over which coalition party was behind the rise in personal tax allowance to £10,000 a year.

But the move barely helps Britain’s worst-off workers because they pay little or no tax, according to an analysis by economist Howard Reed for the TUC.