Nick Clegg on Andrew Marr: Tories want tax cuts for wealthy. I want to put £100 back in people’s pockets.

Nick Clegg was on Andrew Marr today talking about his wish to see the Government raise the tax threshold by a further £500, putting £100 back in people’s comments. If you agree, by the way, sign the petition here.

Without any hint of rancour or peevishness, he put a lot of effort into demonstrating that the Tories favoured tax cuts for the rich while the Liberal Democrats favour tax cuts for ordinary people. He listed the Tory plans – cutting inheritance tax, cutting the top rate of tax, marriage tax breaks, that the Liberal Democrats opposed.

Again he looked relaxed and confident, and also a bit like he’d been messing with the Strictly Come Dancing spray tan machine. What’s going on there, I wonder?

I was much happier with his language on the community tensions in Sheffield as well – it was much more consensual and his point on the need for dialogue was not lost this time. He also was absolutely clear that he wasn’t going to see any group of people villified.

And, finally, on the age of consent controversy, he said he wouldn’t favour a reduction to 15 but talked about the need for much better sex education.

Why, though, do journalists never ask the questions you want them to? An extra £100 to basic rate tax payers is fine but I’m not sure I want it to be the pinnacle of our ambition. It makes the extra £2000 we’d promise for the next Parliament look uninspiring – although you have to see that in the context of more help with childcare, more nursery places for the most deprived two year olds and the like. What worries me, though, is that there are single income households where less than £10,000 is coming in. They won’t get that extra £100 and they are really struggling. What can be done to help them?

Here’s a storify thingy of mine and others’ tweets.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

Read more by or more about , , or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

2 Comments

  • Eddie Sammon 17th Nov '13 - 2:44pm

    It was a good performance by Nick, very attractive to the swing voter, even though I’m not in love with the headline policy given the deficit.

    I particularly liked the way he said he would ask for a bit more from the super wealthy, but not lots more. The super wealthy often hold their money in very risky assets, such as private businesses, and it is not fair to tax these highly if you are not going to give them their money back if their business value drops significantly. This is how lots of the super rich end up bankrupt.

  • Tony Dawson 17th Nov '13 - 8:11pm

    “He also was absolutely clear that he wasn’t going to see any group of people villified.”

    Not even David Blunkett? That is stretching Liberalism far too far! 😉

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Mick Taylor
    Mark Frankel is always 110% on the side of Netanyahu and the Israeli state, but his comments are not wholly wrong. I do feel angry that far too many people try ...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Might it be appropriate to promote whole nation-beneficial policies and their marketing, rather than concentrate on attacking other parties? Might it help to...
  • Ricky Treadwell
    Votes for all other parties will be up for grabs, we have to win anti-status quo voters from reform for example. To do this as can't just fire shots at unpop...
  • Christopher Haigh
    Coincidentally Tim Iredale on Politics North lad t Sunday devoted the whole programme to the way surviving coalfield communities of the South Yorkshire have bee...
  • Katie Wilson-Downie
    This is positive steps to fighting the real elephant in the room. Something that affects many but sadly we would believe it affects a minority, Such awful e...