Miliband demands renewal of bonus tax
By Ian Dunt
The government should extend its bonus tax for another year, Ed Miliband has demanded.
The Labour leader called for the extension after it was emerged that the government was stepping back from a pledge to tackle bonuses in the financial services sector.
As the government braced itself for public anger over the issue, it emerged that the government is planning a shakeup of employment laws to make it easier for firms to sack workers.
The failure on bonuses, coupled with the news of reform to employment laws, saw a visible angry Mr Miliband launch a scathing attack on the government at a press conference in London this morning.
“Labour is calling on the government to put right its decision of a major tax cut for the banks,” he said.
“It’s unfair and it’s the wrong economic judgement to be cutting taxes for the banks at a time when everyone else is paying more.”
Extending the bonus tax for another year would be “fairer and more responsible” Mr Miliband continued.
The government has had eight months to formulate its plans to create jobs, but “all they can come up with is a proposal to make it easier to sack workers”, he argued.
“It’s Labour that’s standing up for the many and it’s [David Cameron] that is standing up for the few.”
The Labour leader also called on the government to U-turn on plans to scrap the future jobs fund.
“The decision to betray young people is not just unfair, it is the wrong economic decision for this country,” Mr Miliband said.
“Out of work, these people cost money to the exchequer.”
But the Labour team struggled to get past questions about the competence of his economic team, after shadow chancellor Alan Johnson appeared unaware of the rate of employers’ national insurance during an interview over the weekend.
“Yesterday Alan Johnson showed his ignorance of basic economics, and today Ed Miliband’s team show their ignorance of how much it matters to business,” Stephen Williams, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury committee, said.
“To dismiss a massive misunderstanding of how much employers have to pay as a parlour game is not only worrying, it is also a shameful indication of how Labour’s economic strategy for Britain is based on finger-counting and guess work.”
Asked about the slip-up, Mr Miliband said he would take Mr Johnson’s advice over that of George Osborne “every day of the week”.
“He knows the difference between a fair tax and an unfair tax,” the Labour leader said.
