I’m in the hall – the clapometer is clearly going in favour of the motion unamended – if that translates in to votes, the 50p top rate is on the way out.
UPDATE: after a series of good temperered speeches for and against, with standing room only in the hall to watch the result (both Ming and Paddy Ashdown were on the stage to applaud the unamended motion), the 50p rate is dropped in a 65/35 vote.
Lib Dem blogger of the year (keep saying it – he blushes) Stephen Tall has more.
That’s the leadership’s first headache of the day out of the way – a press conference on the vote is starting in 15 minutes, and then potential headache two… our glorious former leader is jetting in, giving a speech at 15:40, and then jetting out again. What will he say? What can he say?
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7 Comments
Very sensible decision (if so).
I agree, important that it passes.
I’m sending long-distance claps in favour of the motion unamended.
It was a difficult decision to make and despite Malcolm Bruce’s worthy speech, I was still in favour of the 50p rate at the end of the debate. However I am still celebrating the package as a whole. The trick now is to sell it! The debate came over very well on BBC Parliament.
Woo Hoo!
What will he say? What can he say?
“Buy my book” ?
I was totally in favour of the amendment. But the debate was such a good one, in the true Lib Dem tradition, that it makes you feel honoured to have been there. The vote may have gone, in my view, the wrong way, but the quality of the debate confirms that it was arrived at with due consideration.
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