Government whips are warning Labour MPs that next Monday's vote on the abolition of the 10p tax rate amounts to a vote of confidence in Gordon Brown. The implicit threat is that the PM would call a general election if he loses a central plank of his last Budget as Chancellor.
The truth is more complex: for there to be an official vote of confidence, Brown would have to table a motion of confidence in HM Govt, which would be debated next Tuesday. But the prospect of the Government losing that vote would be minimal, since 34 Labour MPs would have to vote against Brown to defeat him. With Labour behind in the opinion polls, turkeys are unlikely to vote for Christmas.
The history books reinforce the point. Governments have been defeated in only four confidence votes since 1895. The last time was in 1979, which brought an end to the Labour Government of James Callaghan after the "winter of discontent." So the threat of an immediate election is rather an empty one.
Although 46 Labour MPs have now signed the rebel amendment to the Finance Bill demanding compensation for the losers from the tax change, the Government is working overtime to head off a defeat next Monday. The Chancellor Alistair Darling has just written to the Commons Treasury Committee, spelling out his plans to help those who lose out. He will be assessing the average loss for pensioners aged 60-64 and childless people (the biggest group among the 5.3m losers).
The compromise was discussed by Darling and Brown last night. It's no coincidence that it emerged 25 minutes before Gordon Brown appears at Prime Minister's Questions - a clear attempt to take the heat off him. More on the all-important detail later.
I don't understand why this issue has taken so long to be raised. Ever since it was announced last year it was possible to calculate the impact on low earners. Why wasn't anything done then?
Also, to say that families with children won't lose out is also wrong. The difference will be made up by tax credits, but the take-up of tax credits is not 100% due to various reasons and Brown knows that.
Posted by: D John | Wednesday, 23 April 2008 at 12:31 PM
Clearly Labour MPs were fully aware of these implications when the policy was announced in the 2007 Budget. So why didn't they kick up a fuss back then rather than now, with the polls showing a widening gap between the rising Tories and failing NuLabour and said ministers worried about their own futures?
It also shows incredible inconsistency by the Government to suddently perform such a u-turn. Clearly they really don't know what they're doing: they sting the poor and then try to stick a plaster on the wound and hope it will go away!
Posted by: Russell Ould | Wednesday, 23 April 2008 at 12:46 PM
The mortgage crisis is not going to get any better. That's the end of the "credit fueled paper economy" we have been stretching since gold was forsaken decades ago. Bank are running short of cash because the never had it in the first place. They only had "stamped promises" sustained on credit collaterals.
Sooner or later it was going to collapse just like those "pyramid systems" of the 80s where the last to join bore the crunch of cash. We've reached the solid bottom of the pyramid.
Wake up!; The dream is over! The whole World Economy is doomed because the system only works if it's fueled by further credits and these wont be coming. We now have to face THE LONG NIGHTMARE.
Posted by: Zeev Reuteman | Wednesday, 23 April 2008 at 01:10 PM
The mortgage crisis is not going to get any better. That's the end of the "credit fueled paper economy" we have been stretching since gold was forsaken decades ago. Bank are running short of cash because the never had it in the first place. They only had "stamped promises" sustained on credit collaterals.
Sooner or later it was going to collapse just like those "pyramid systems" of the 80s where the last to join bore the crunch of cash. We've reached the solid bottom of the pyramid.
Wake up!; The dream is over! The whole World Economy is doomed because the system only works if it's fueled by further credits and these wont be coming. We now have to face THE LONG NIGHTMARE.
Posted by: Zeev Reuteman | Wednesday, 23 April 2008 at 01:35 PM
Harriet Harman's laughable attempts to justify the abolition of the 10p tax rate on Question Time last week demonstrate Labour's increasingly tenuous grip on reality/truth. If the new rate is such a good idea - why wasn't it publicised as such last year? New Labour are certainly not adverse to promoting their 'acheivements' or - it appears - deceiving voters.
Posted by: Daniel Spinks | Wednesday, 23 April 2008 at 02:32 PM
Brown has used the money from the less well off in order to finance tax cuts for better paid people. He's a reverse Robin Hood.
Posted by: jenny sheehan | Wednesday, 23 April 2008 at 05:20 PM
The new labour is digging its own grave and will bury in it very soon. history shows that people do not sit back, they fight back that may take a little longer.
The New Labour being part of the rulling class works for the interests of the rich to maintain the capitalist system going.It is making the poor pay for its mistakes of joining America to invade Iraq - an ilegal war.
Posted by: Joginder Bains | Wednesday, 23 April 2008 at 06:40 PM
The Beeb's interview with Brown today persistently missed a salient point, that it should not have taken over a year for Brown and Darling to decide to help those who'd lose out from the abolition of the 10p rate, so they are even more incompetent than they look most of the time anyway if they couldn't have "discovered how to help those people" when they originally announced the abolition and saved all this latest havoc.
The more cracks in New Labour the better. The sooner we are rid of the lot of them the better.
Posted by: R.Williams | Thursday, 24 April 2008 at 02:03 AM
The Beeb's interview with Brown today persistently missed a salient point, that it should not have taken over a year for Brown and Darling to decide to help those who'd lose out from the abolition of the 10p rate, so they are even more incompetent than they look most of the time anyway if they couldn't have "discovered how to help those people" when they originally announced the abolition and saved all this latest havoc.
The more cracks in New Labour the better. The sooner we are rid of the lot of them the better.
Posted by: R.Williams | Thursday, 24 April 2008 at 02:04 AM