LONDON (AP) — Cider drinkers, vacation home owners and libel lawyers are among the early victors in Britain's looming general election.

All will benefit from the government's announcement yesterday that it is dropping a host of planned tax and fee increases as it struggles to push through legislation before Parliament breaks up ahead of the May 6 election.

With just two days left, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party is abandoning its recently imposed 10 percent hike in cider duty, announced in its budget last month as part of its bid to tackle Britain's binge-drinking culture.

Other measures sacrificed include plans to scrap the existing tax relief on holiday homes, increase the fees charged by libel lawyers and impose a tax on every household with a landline telephone to pay for country-wide broadband.

Labour has stressed that the proposals will all be reinstated if it wins power in an anticipated tight election race. The most recent opinion polls point to the likelihood of a hung Parliament in which the Conservatives win a greater share of the vote, but not enough seats to secure an overall majority.

Concessions are a traditional part of the last-minute rush to secure the passage of legislation before an election, a time known as the "wash-up period." The parties usually engage in horse trading, sacrificing some measures to push through the bills they consider most important before Parliament is dissolved.