After three weeks, Ed Miliband’s “reasonable” approach to PMQs is officially over. With the economy rising and Labour’s poll lead falling, Miliband went back on the attack today – and won.
He started with a sober question on Syrian refugees, noting that he had pressed Cameron to reverse the government’s stance at last week’s session, but quickly shifted gears into a more offensive mode. After Labour’s announcement that it would reintroduce the 50p tax rate, he dug out a Cameron quote from 2009 in which he said “showing that we’re all in this together means showing the rich will pay their share, which is why the 50p tax rate will have to stay”. Cameron responded by insisting that the richest are paying more in tax and denounced Labour as “an anti-business, anti-growth, anti-jobs party” (a line you can expect to hear again). But Miliband had plenty of ammunition left. He declared that “what we have is a policy with the overwhelming support of the most important people of all – the people of Britain” (the most recent polls show more than 60 per cent support the 50p tax rate with only around 20 per cent opposed) and challenged Cameron to rule out cutting the top rate from 45p to 40p.
To this, Cameron would only reply that his “priority” was to cut tax rates for the lowest-paid before a wonderful moment of mirth when he remarked “while we’re in the business of who has said interesting things in recent days, let me ask him this…”, and then failed to find the quote he was looking for. After the Speaker helpfully interjected, to roars of laughter from the Labour benches, Cameron eventually found his place but his subsequent attack – on Ed Balls’s refusal to say that public spending was too high before the crash – was deprived of much of its force.
Miliband used his final two questions to again press Cameron on the top tax rate but only elicited the same response: that the government’s “priority” was to help the low-paid (in other words, we might cut taxes for high earners later). By refusing to rule out reducing the 45p rate, Cameron and George Osborne (who did the same at Treasury questions yesterday) are handing Labour an election attack line on a plate.
Not only will Labour be able to remind voters that the Tories cut taxes for the highest 1 per cent of earners, it will be able to warn them that they’re prepared to do the same again. Whether or not this is good economics (and there is no evidence that a 50p rate would genuinely damage growth), it is terrible politics. As a YouGov poll reminded us yesterday, the public overwhelmingly support the 50p rate, with 61 per cent in favour and just 26 per cent opposed. By 45 per cent to 19 per cent, they believe it will help the economic recovery rather than damage it, and, by 50 per cent to 29 per cent, that it will raise additional revenue.
Miliband ended:
The whole country will have heard he had three opportunities to answer and he could not give us a straight answer… After four years of this government, people are worse off and this is a PM who’s already given those at the top, millionaires, a hundred thousand pound tax cut and he wants to give them another one. He can only govern for the few, he can never govern for the many.
Today, at least, attack was the best form of defence.
Content from our partners
Related
