Lord Jacobs becomes rightwingers’ new poster child

The Times reports that Lord Jacobs has quit the party to sit as a crossbencher on the grounds that the party’s position on tax does not include tax cuts for the rich, paid for (if Lord Rennard is to be believed) by a 6p hike in NIC. Despite Sam Coates’ best attempts to dress this… Continue reading Lord Jacobs becomes rightwingers’ new poster child

The return of clear blue water? I’m bored already

As regular readers of this blog will be able to testify, whenever I say nice things about the other parties, it always comes back to bite me in the bum. So it was that I backed Caroline Spelman and Ray Lewis, shortly before it became clear their actions were indefensible. And last weekend I wrote… Continue reading The return of clear blue water? I’m bored already

Cutting tax is not a zero sum game

I’m cautiously optimistic about the rumoured plan of a 2.5% drop in VAT. It sounds like a good move to me, for several reasons. One thing a VAT cut won’t do is lead automatically to a reduction in prices. Most food isn’t VAT-rated and it is hard to believe that a CD priced £9.99 this… Continue reading Cutting tax is not a zero sum game