Derek Deedman

Following the withdrawal of Labour MP Frank Field’s amendment on the 10p rate of tax, Lib Dem Leader, Nick Clegg, has written to Labour MPs urging them not to be bribed by the Government’s ‘last minute smoke and mirror promises’ and instead to vote for the Liberal Democrat amendment against the doubling of the 10p rate of tax. The unspecified measures announced during the week by the Government won’t come into effect until November at the earliest, and will not help all of the millions of people affected by the original change.

It must be hoped that for the benefit of many people in the Bramber Castle Division, and the millions across Country, the former rebel Labour MPs will join the Liberal Democrats in a cross-party effort to defeat this punitive tax change. There has still been no commitment to ensure that all people made worse off by this tax rise will be fully compensated. Regardless of whether the Treasury back-dates any future compensation payments, this will still mean low paid workers will be out of pocket for at least the next seven months. Parliament should send a clear message that they do not believe that the poor should be targeted to pay for tax cuts for the better off.