David Cameron's big tax pledge: was he too clever by half?

Stealing Lib Dem tax policy may have been a mistake: Cameron needs Clegg to win back 'switchers'

Don Brind
(Image credit: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)

Oh to have had a hidden microphone in Nick Clegg’s office when David Cameron came out with his Grand Theft Tax Policy at Birmingham yesterday.

The promise to raise the starting rate of tax to £12,500 to help the lower paid – if the Tories win the next election - was a breath-taking act of political larceny: Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander leapt out to brand the pledge a "shameless attempt to copy Liberal Democrat tax policy".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
is a former BBC lobby correspondent and Labour press officer who is watching the polls for The Week in the run-up to the 2015 election.