Lib Dems Abandon 'Tax And Spend' Banner

by Justin Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

28 January 2002

UK Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said yesterday that his party is ready to drop its commitment to raising the basic income tax rate by a penny. Interviewed on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost, Mr Kennedy even suggested that Liberal Democrats might fight the next election as a tax- cutting party.

"What we go into the next general election with in three or four years' time may not obviously make sense in terms of what we were saying at a previous general election," he said. "The world will have moved on. It is as simple as that.

"We have already been a tax-cutting party because we want to take people at the lower end of the tax spectrum out of tax altogether. At the same time, we have been very focused on the fact that taxation should be transparent, honest and accountable."

He went on: "I don't think we are going to depart from any of those principles, but quite what our specific levels will be in terms of taxation policy and what that helps deliver in terms of quality public services - whether it is decent railways, good hospitals, quality schools and so on - remains to be seen."

In an attempt to establish his party as an effective alternative to the Conservatives, and understanding that you can't have your cake and eat it as well, Mr Kennedy has abandoned co-operation with the Government through the joint cabinet committee. Yesterday he made clear the Liberal Democrats were ready to work with the Tories in the Lords to defeat Labour's proposals to reform the Upper House, which he branded "shambolic".

"There have been conversations between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in the House of Lords," he said. "The nature of the House of Lords is very different from the House of Commons in that there is, if you like, informal discussions about things on a day-by-day basis.

"There is not some great plot here, but I do believe that if we can pressurise the Government into a more democratic House of Lords, that would be a very good thing."

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