Chancellor Alistair Darling offered a handful of concessions to “non-domiciled” UK residents as part of his maiden Budget address, by softening some of the proposed requirements on their taxation.

He still plans to push ahead with the plan to charge foreigners who have spent at least seven of the past 10 years in the UK a £30,000 annual levy for the privilege of not being taxed on offshore income and gains. However, he backed away from other minor changes previously proposed in response to an outcry of criticism.