TENS of thousands of pensioners in Hampshire have been handed pre-election pressies from Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Wooing the grey vote, he announced a £200 council tax rebate for the retired this autumn, along with free, off-peak local bus travel from next year.

Hospital charges will no longer be deducted from their pensions, while there will again be a £200 winter fuel allowance, rising to £300 for the over-80s.

The means-tested pension Credit - a top-up income for the poorest - is being raised by 13 per cent over three years to ensure a bottom-line income of £119 a week.

Ageing parents will also be able to leave more money to their children.

Inheritance tax thresholds are to be raised from £260,000 to £300,000 over the next three years.

Currently up to £4 in every £10 left by mothers or fathers on assets of more than £263,000 go straight to the taxman. From April 6 it goes up to £275,000.

Campaigning group Help the Aged said the free bus travel was a welcome surprise for pensioners, who are more likely to vote than any other section of the population.

Spokesman Mervyn Kohler accused Mr Brown of focusing on peripheral issues, instead of tackling the crucial areas of "ailing" social care services and reform of the pensions system.

He said: "We're dealing with some glamorous distractions rather than the main meat and drink of what pensioners' politics are all about."

There was also carefully targeted help for low and middle income families, savers and house-buyers - with an immediate doubling of the stamp duty threshold from £60,000 to £120,000.

Geoff Briggs, managing partner of Southampton-based business advisers PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: "Given the average price of a home in Hampshire is about £215,000 with the average flat or maisonette costing in the region of £140,000, very few buyers are going to gain from this raised threshold."

From April 6, low-income parents struggling with childcare costs will be benefit from a big rise in state help through working tax credits.

A parent with one child will be able to claim 70 per cent of £175 a week and, with two or more children, 70 per cent of £300 a week.

A return-to-work 'bounty' of £2,000 will also be given to lone parents.