13 June 2011

Labour hypocrisy on 10p tax rise revealed

The Telegraph has exposed Labour's hypocrisy when they abolished the starting 10p rate of tax in 2007. At the time Labour denied the move would disproportionately hit the poorest - but the papers show Labour, including Gordon Brown and Ed Balls, knew full well that their move would harm the very poorest and benefit the very rich. But they went ahead anyway. The killer graphic is here:



















But this was not an aberration. Under Blair/Brown the gap between rich and poor rose faster than under Thatcher. They declared it was their intention to abolish child poverty, but the pledge (like so many others) crashed and burned.

So I find it strange there are still some misguided souls in the Lib Dems who think the Labour party is in some way 'progressive' or indeed 'radical' and it is the party's duty to work only with Labour in some sort of left alliance of the deluded.

So when Richard Grayson and Linda Jack report back to the Social Liberal Forum next weekend on their talks with Ed Balls and Liam Byrne (among others) I hope they are laughed out of the hall. I'd guess they won't be because the SLF, sadly, has a blind spot to evidence that disproves their rose tinted world view of Labour. Their knee jerk reactionism to all things Conservative prevents them taking the pragmatic and balanced position of pursuing political goals that actually can be delivered by the Lib Dems in government.

By 2015 when no-one will be paying any tax on incomes less than £10,000 it will do more for helping those at the bottom end of the pay scale than anything Labour ever did and it will have been done because the Lib Dems are working with the Conservatves - not Labour.

1 comment:

  1. Shocking bias towards the top 30%, to the abject detriment of the poorest. *sigh* I like the Social Liberal Forum, I have never been in a position to believe Labour is anything more than the political wing of the trade unions bosses moving towards popularity but without particular regards to the people, as they assume to know best and favour grand visions and programs centralised form on high. I think the Lib Dems have made achievements with sacrifices as we did not have a majority. Labour broke manifesto commitments by introducing student fees and then next time again broke another commitment by tripling them and they have no excuse they had an overall majority. My glasses are not rose tinted or blue rinsed I am a pragmatist that cares about people. Dan has rightly highlighted the hypocrisy of Labour in the 10p tax rise and how this was obfuscated by their spin machine, the one that is bigger than when in government and continues to offer an easy way to fill copy space for overworked journalists...

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