Tax the rich instead of taking money from ‘struggling pensioners’, says Lib Dem leader Ed Davey
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for a tax on the wealthiest instead of cutting support for “struggling pensioners”.
Speaking after arriving at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski, Sir Ed said his party is the only one offering up a solution on how to “plug the awful financial mess the Conservatives left us with”.
More than 10 million pensioners will lose winter fuel payments under government plans which have been heavily criticised by opposition MPs, some Labour MPs and charities.
Sir Ed told Sky News he would have levied a capital gains tax against the wealthiest instead.
Sir Ed Davey arrived at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski. Pic: PA
“The Conservatives won’t admit there’s a problem, there is a problem, the financial deficit is large, the Conservatives ran the budget in a very bad way, there needs to be a solution to that,” he said.
“But withdrawing winter fuel payments from struggling pensioners isn’t the solution so we’ve put forward in the House of Commons our solution.
“We’ve said, look at the capital gains tax on the very, very wealthiest.
“So there are alternatives to this. The government doesn’t have to do this.
“It has to clear up the Conservatives’ mess. But there are other ways, much fairer ways to do that.”
Sir Ed continued carrying out stunts as he arrived in Brighton
Sir Ed said his party would also reverse the tax cut the Conservatives gave banks “to deal with the deficit and avoid these painful policies”.
He said it is possible to give the winter fuel payments to all but the wealthiest pensioners and this has been done before with child benefit.
“But that’s not what the government are proposing,” he added.
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The Lib Dems have pledged to be a “constructive opposition”, choosing to do politics differently from the attack method other parties have chosen to adopt.
“We’re going to be the best opposition in parliament, far better than the Conservatives by being constructive, by putting forward alternatives,” Sir Ed said.
“And I think we’re the only group of people doing that, saying this is where you should get the money from to plug the awful financial mess left by the Conservatives.
“Don’t take it from struggling pensioners.”
On Saturday, Labour’s biggest union backer joined calls for a U-turn on the winter fuel payments cut.
A motion to be submitted to Labour‘s conference by Unite says “workers and communities… voted for a better future, not just better management”.
How will Unite’s rebellion on winter fuel affect Starmer?
Labour’s first conference as a party of government in more than a decade was always going to be a carefully calibrated affair.
Too much celebration and jubilation a likely no-no, given the sombre picture Sir Keir Starmer has been painting since moving into Downing Street.
But the party probably hoped to avoid a full-on union showdown.
And yet, that looks to be on the horizon.
The motion being submitted by Unite is scathing – lashing out at the decision to cut winter fuel payments and squaring up to the current gloomy tone being adopted by the government.
Last week’s Commons vote saw just a limited rebellion among MPs.
If this motion makes it to the conference floor, members may not be so loyal to their leader.
That’s not to say any of this should – or will – bother Downing Street.
With a huge majority in parliament, Sir Keir Starmer can afford to rile a few allies now.
Providing he can get them back on side before 2029.
The union’s motion calls the cuts “cruel” and goes on to say: “We need a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts.”
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Politics
Norman Tebbit: Former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government dies aged 94
Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.
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