Budget 2008: David Miliband urges Labour unity as tax anger grows
Foreign secretary David Miliband has called for Labour MPs to support Gordon Brown in the wake of growing anger over the abandoning of the 10p income tax band.
The prime minister has faced strong opposition within his party towards plans to abolish the lowest rate of income tax. Labour party aides have said it would leave the poorest in society worse off.
Writing in the News of the World, the foreign secretary praised Gordon Brown’s leadership qualities and warned that the party could be voted out of office if it failed to “defend each other and our leader”.
Mr Miliband urged ministers to empathise with voters and to be upfront about the achievements of the party.
He said: “People will only listen to our claims about what we have done right if we are candid about what we have not.”
The cabinet member said the government had succeeded in creating jobs and lowering crime but he warned that housing, care of the elderly and people’s perceptions of the crime rate were issues that still needed to be tackled.
The new tax system will result in the abolition of the lowest band of income tax – meaning that those in the lowest income group will pay 20 per cent of their income to the government rather than the previous 10 per cent.
The rate of taxation for the next tax band has been reduced from 22 per cent to 20 percent.
