In some ways the near miss of the general election might allow Labour to do some things it never considered in the light of the Tories suddenly revealing last week that they actually have some policies.
Alistair Darling today announced that Labour had looked at and rather liked what the Tories had to say on Inheritance Tax and on taxing non-domiciled workers, and announced that labour would raise further the the inheritance tax levels for married couples and also would tax the "non-doms", like the Tories said they would do.
This then poses something of a question for the Tories. Which other policies will Labour steal before now and the next election ?
Of course, it's not just the Tories who have to ask this question. Alistair Darling stole from the Lib Dems too when he changed the way that charges are levied on flights.
Parties can usually put together a manifesto knowing that the election is imminent and that the other parties have not got time to copy them or if they are in government, enact the policy. In this case, the Tories have been caught out a little. Not that any of this is the Tories fault, but the nature of not having fixed term parliaments has again given the government an advantage.
In many ways it is like Labour telling a load of swimmers to get ready for a race, only for the other racers to get down to the start line and find Labour on the beach stealing their clothes.
3 comments:
Fixed parliaments work best with separation of powers though.
In a Republic, I'd agree.
I've joined Iain's facebook group for this. I would like to think that restrictions would be put on campaigning. I could not do with the rubbish that goes on in the states.
I agree. Too many months of negative stuff designed to supress turnout, not encourage it.
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