Tag Archives: norman lamont

Caron Lindsay

The Tories, not the EU, are responsible for VAT on domestic fuel

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 31st May 2016 - 12:52 pm

So, the latest salvo from the Leave camp is an assertion that the EU is stopping us from cutting VAT on domestic fuel.

There is one man amongst the ranks of the Brexiters who knows all about VAT on domestic fuel. That’s right. Step forward former Chancellor Norman Lamont. It was he who decided to put VAT on domestic fuel at the rate of 8% from April 1 1994. The EU didn’t force him to do this. He was doing it to cut public spending, something Tories have a bit of an obsession with. Not only that, but he would have been quite happy to raise it to 17.5% the year after.

Here’s a story from the Independent at the time where Mr Lamont is doing his usual Je ne regrette rien line.

Fellow now Brexiteer Michael Portillo, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, added his twopence worth:

And in an atmosphere of growing confusion, a damaging Commons row broke out last night after Michael Portillo, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, suggested that poorer people would not suffer too much because of the ‘swings and roundabouts’of the Income Support system.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 43 Comments
Mark Pack

Norman Lamont is an excellent example of why the Lords should be reformed

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st March 2012 - 12:25 pm

Yesterday Conservative peer Norman Lamont was the latest in a sequence of Tory peers to take to the pages of ConservativeHome to argue against their own party’s policy and opposed elections to the House of Lords.

However, he is also an excellent example of why the Lords should be reformed, for he is just the sort of MP I had mind when writing a piece for Left Foot Forward last year:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 10 Comments
Mark Pack

Welcome to tax and spend politics, 1992 style

By Mark Pack | Wed 6th January 2010 - 11:20 am

Unpopular government seeks fourth general election victory in a row in midst of a recession. Sound familiar? Welcome to 1992.

Back then it was the Conservatives in power facing a Labour opposition and David Cameron was working for the Conservative Party, as head of the political section of the Conservative Research Department.

I suspect it’s memories of 1992 that help explain the vagueness of Conservative tax and spend plans this time round. In 1992 the Labour opposition had spelt out its spending commitments in advance in some detail and so, when Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont sprung a surprise in the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • Peter
    The AZ fiasco is deepening and now Merkel claims that China and the USA are of eual merit as trading partners. Thank God we got out when we did is the thought ...
  • Daniel Walker
    @David Raw "A clear rebranding as : ‘The Liberal Party'" While I appreciate the sentiment, that name's in use: http://liberal.org.uk/...
  • David Raw
    @ Dan You really shouldn't believe everything you read in the Daily Express, Dan....
  • Peter Watson
    @Paul Holmes "Mind you the Lib Dems in 2019 also spent unprecedented amounts on all forms of campaigning and ended up down from 12 to 11 MP’s!" A bigger drop...
  • Toby Keynes
    Good policy very rarely comes out of efforts to brand a class of people as bad and undeserving. A surprising and fast-growing volume of investment is targett...