Has Ken Clarke been on the sauce?

[DodgyAgent]

Sound familiar Dodgy? ;-)

Touche

[Ruprect]

You mean helping people make money by luck and without doing any work to earn it?

Sound familiar Dodgy? ;-)

[DodgyAgent]

...yadda yadda

bbc linky

Personally I thought this was one of the best policies the Conservatives had

You mean helping people make money by luck and without doing any work to earn it?

[DimPrawn]

It only affects CyberTory anyway.

[crimdon]

You must be a sockpuppet, nobody can be that stupid.

I was beginning to think that too

[centurian]

Actually just seen the BBC 10 o'clock news and it seems there is a bit of confusion within the tory party about this.

So I take back what I said about this announcement being carefully planned.

[BrilloPad]

Is anyone stupid enough to still believe in the economic competence of a Labour government after they have inflicted this recession on us ?

There are some really really thick people out there.

[Green Mango]

Is anyone stupid enough to still believe in the economic competence of a Labour government after they have inflicted this recession on us ?

[centurian]

Are you that thick that you cannot see that the Conservatives cabinet are contradicting each other?

You must be a sockpuppet, nobody can be that stupid.

I think this was on the cards for some time. In the midst of the biggest recession since the year dot, how could their only tax cut benefit the very richest. Over the last few weeks, every Labour politician has been bashing them over the inheritance tax.

Also given that this comes just after they warned that the will keep the 45% top rate. I think it was quite carefully planned, right down to the wording. By saying it is a "low priority", they can drop it if they choose, but if house prices pick up again so that it affects more middle class households (the main reason for this tax policy), then they can re-introduce it.

Put simply, when they conceived it, they thought it was a vote winner with every rising house prices. Now they've calculated it will cost them more votes than they gain, hence they're going to shelve it for now.

[minestrone]

Labour are trying to play the old game of trying to make out that the Tories are only interested in helping the wealthy. The Tories are now playing a clever game in return. The main thing to remember is that taxes in the long run will always be lower under a Tory administration because they simply will not waste money on such a scale as Labour always do.

Are you that thick that you cannot see that the Conservatives cabinet are contradicting each other?

You must be a sockpuppet, nobody can be that stupid.

[Cyberman]

Labour are trying to play the old game of trying to make out that the Tories are only interested in helping the wealthy. The Tories are now playing a clever game in return. The main thing to remember is that taxes in the long run will always be lower under a Tory administration because they simply will not waste money on such a scale as Labour always do.

[minestrone]

Cutting inheritance tax would not be a high priority for an incoming Tory government, Ken Clarke has said.

The shadow business secretary told the BBC its main economic goals would be to cut public debt and restore growth.

The Tories' pledge to take millions of families out of inheritance tax in September 2007 was seen as a key moment in reviving their political fortunes.

Labour said the more Conservative economic policies came under scrutiny "the more they fall apart".
'Tremendous mess'

Recent indications that the Tories will not reverse Labour's planned tax rises for the rich have already caused internal ructions.

Increasing income tax for top-earners to 45% from 2011 would be "difficult to avoid", shadow chancellor George Osborne has said - a stance backed up by Mr Clarke and foreign secretary William Hague.

But the Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson has said the move would stifle British enterprise, a view Mr Clarke said was "just wrong".

In recent weeks, senior Conservatives have stressed the party will face extremely tough choices if they win the next election given the state of the public finances.

The Conservatives insist cutting the overall burden of tax for families remains a long-term objective and have pledged to freeze council tax bills for two years among other proposals.

But they have declined to rule out tax rises after the next election...

...yadda yadda

bbc linky

Personally I thought this was one of the best policies the Conservatives had