B.A.Ware

As Cameron is refusing to commit the party to tax cuts the News highlighted a fringe meeting in which Norman Tebbit was calling for tax cuts to be part of their strategy then he said one way they could save taxes was to leave the European Union he received a huge applause for this statement.

Good on him i say.

Bluemerle

UKIP throws tax challenge to the Tories in Bournemouth

02-10-2006

The UK Independence Party will tomorrow (3rd October) announce a 33 per cent flat rate income tax for all, including National Insurance contributions, as part of a sweeping tax policy review. The review includes increasing the level that can be earned free of tax to £9,000, scrapping the loathed inheritance tax altogether and reducing Capital Gains to 33 per cent.
Party Leader, Nigel Farage MEP, will throw a challenge to Tory Leader David Cameron by setting a clear tax cutting agenda that will attract many members of the Conservative Party.
To capitalise on UKIP’s appeal to traditional Tory voters, the policy will be launched at the Bournemouth International Hotel on the fringe of the Conservative conference. UKIP expects that attendance will be swelled by significant numbers of disillusioned Conservative delegates.
UKIP Economic spokesman, John Whittaker MEP, said: “The country does not accept the argument that improvements in ‘front line’ public services require ever-increasing Government expenditure. Huge sums of money have been poured in but have not improved services proportionately to the amount taxpayers have paid and have a right to expect. “These changes will help to restore incentives to work and save for people of all income levels. But if Britain is to remain prosperous and competitive in the global economy, they must just be the beginning of a comprehensive reform of the tax and benefit system.”
The new tax policy* is part of Mr Farage’s agenda to broaden UKIP’s political programme and give the Party a wide platform of integrated measures in addition to its known commitment to leave the European Union.
Mr Farage said: “We are developing into a broad based Party, up and down the country and putting together the policies to support that stature. A huge political vacuum is opening up as all the major parties are plunging us toward the same destructive Statist solutions.
“UKIP represents all Britons who feel pitted against Governments both here and in Europe which erode individual freedoms, consolidates its power and inflicts ever-burdening costs.”

Ends

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Contact: press@westbournemouthukip.com

Gawian Towler 0032 496 510 711


Notes to Editors:

The Launch will be at 11 am at the Bournemouth International Hotel in Priory road just up from the BIC in Bournemouth

eublues

Good effort by Nigel and Co. I say.

Also, great to hear Tebbit's call to leave the EU at Tory fringe meeting which somehow got shown on the BBC 6 o'clock news. Good to see Tebbit going beyond being a mere "eurosceptic". He had Simon Heffer alongside.

Britannist

Norman (Lord) Tebbit better reflects the view of Conservative Party members on tax (by backing tax cuts) than do those who in the Conservative Party who don't regard the issue as a priority. Without a firm pledge to cut tax, the Conservatives stand to lose the chance of getting back millions of voters 'lost' during the years of the europhile wimp Major.

I said weeks ago on this forum that Labour could well promise to cut tax before the next General Election (or during the next General Election campaign). There was some talk on some programme on the television yesterday on the possibility of Gordon Brown reducing tax for the low paid.

The space left by those that decide policy in the Conservative Party on tax is rapidly being filled by other parties pledging tax cuts instead. Not pledging to cut tax now is a big mistake by Conservative Party policy-makers.

Independence Now!

It makes me laugh when the Conservatives boast that they are recovering significantly under David Cameron. The fact is that they have improved their poll ratings by only a modest degree and are now nearly back to where they were under Michael Howard (36-37% compared to 33% at the general election) and this doesn't take into account the fact that there are still a few million lost Tories who haven't backed the party since the 1992 general election. In that election the Tories received 14 million votes but at the last election it was something like 9 million. All they are doing is swapping support with the Labour and Lib Dim parties and fighting a 'centre-ground' of politics which fewer and fewer people back when it comes to the crunch ie in the ballot boxes at a general election.

B.A.Ware

Although I'm not one to target Tories i think this is a brilliant move on Nigel's part, It will get us maximum publicity for a policy launch.

Perhaps Nigel has finally seen the light. :shock:

kernow

Only if the National media report it! If not we are just talking to ourselves!

Britannist

Lord Tebbit, the former Chairman of the Conservative Party, told a fringe meeting at the 2006 annual conference of the Conservative Party on 2.10.2006 (as reported on BBC 1 Television news at 10.11 pm on 2.10.2006 and on BBC 2 Television Newsnight on 2.10.2006 at 10.46 pm) “The rich – including wealthy Conservatives – can afford to pay high tax and can afford to pay advisers to help them not to pay high tax. Don’t think tax cuts are only for the rich. Poorer people cannot afford to pay high tax and cannot afford advisers to help them not to pay higher tax. In the campaign for the 1987 General Election (won by the Conservative Party) we put in our Manifesto ‘We are the only party which believes in lower taxation’. The way things are going at the moment, we will end up being the only party that does not believe in lower taxation. We promised tax cuts in the 1979 and 1987 Conservative Manifestos. There is a moral, compelling economic case for tax cuts. We should also get out of the EU.”

A man at the meeting which Lord Tebbit addressed said to the BBC “We need tax cuts for people like carpenters and other such workers who voted Conservative when Mrs. Thatcher was leader.”

* David Cameron, Conservative leader, said again on 2.10.2006 that he was not going to pledge tax cuts and said he was “as hard as rock” on not saying he would cut tax. He claimed stability of the economy and stable mortgages were a greater priority.

David Cameron, the pro-EU Conservative leader, said on BBC 1 Television at 10.11 pm on 2.10.2006 (on the first full day of the 2006 annual conference of the Conservative Party in Bournemouth) “We can’t keep banging on about tax.” Comment on David Cameron’s remark: You can’t keep ‘banging on’ about carbon emissions either – the latest polls show that the effect of six months of talk about wind turbines and recycling has wiped out the Conservative lead over Labour (which the Conservatives had in May).

Martha Kearney, political reporter, interviewed Oliver Letwin MP (the Shadow – Conservative opposition Chancellor – and key ally of David Cameron on BBC 2 Television Newsnight at 10.55 pm on 2.10.2006. She told Mr. Letwin “Tax cuts boost economic growth as Mrs. Thatcher said. Many think she did well for the economy. Oliver Letwin replied “She put up tax in 1981. Tax cuts can stimulate growth, but no one knows when. Mortgage stability comes first.” Martha Kearney insisted “This is a clear change in policy direction (abandoning commitments to making tax cuts a priority).”

Bluemerle

Governments lose elections, Oppositions don't win.

Cameron seems to think that getting the key to No 10 is the most important thing. He doesn't care that he is losing his core vote, he is just after the touchy feely voter.

kernow

I'm sure you're right, in fact I think he'll achieve his aim and turn out to be an even bigger control freak than Blair!