Views
Ensuring fairness in financial decisions - for the Inverness Courier
THE party conference season is now well under way - and today is the day that Labour's new leader, the younger Miliband, will set out how he and his party will conduct themselves during the months ahead.
I wish Ed Miliband well - and I hope he will be as good as his word when he says he will work constructively with the Government to address the realities of the fiscal position that we face as a country.
Until now, that has been lacking from Labour's approach in opposition. Even though their own chief secretary to the Treasury left a note to tell his successor that "there's no money left", virtually every effort to deal with the black hole in our finances has been scorned.
Labour, without leadership, have seemed to think that we can keep digging ourselves ever-deeper into debt - putting themselves very far even from the position that Alistair Darling took as Chancellor.
It would be better for politics - and better for the scrutiny of the very difficult decisions we are taking - if the new leader persuaded his troops to lift their heads out of the sand and deal with reality.
As a government, we make no apology for identifying the deficit as the over-riding challenge to the future prosperity of our country. I am determined that we will put fairness at the heart of our decision-making, but it is worth being clear that there is nothing fair about simply deferring tough decisions and leaving the people who come next to face the consequences.
At our conference in Liverpool, I set out plans for putting fairness at the heart of the immediate decisions in balancing the books. The sometimes very wealthy individuals who go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying tax in the UK are going to have to play their part at a time when so many others are facing sacrifices.
To that end, we are investing £900 million extra in making sure Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs are able to pursue them - on-line and offshore. We estimate that this package of investment will yield an extra £7 billion in tax - roughly equivalent to the total income tax and national insurance paid in a year by a million people earning median incomes.
Those who think that paying tax is a lifestyle choice and that they can enjoy the many benefits of life in the UK without contributing to the cost of basic services should think again. That has never been any more morally defensible than the behaviour of those who seek to defraud the benefit system intended for the most vulnerable.
The days when governments clamped down on benefit fraud while turning a blind eye to the conduct of wealthy tax dodgers are over.
In the weeks ahead we will face some of the toughest decisions of any government in recent times. We will face those decisions, not because we want to, but because it is right.
That determination is at the heart of the agreement between our two parties to work together to deal with this crisis.
In doing so, we will not forget about fairness. We want the benefits of restored prosperity to be shared more equitably - so we are lifting the lowest earners out of income tax and locking in regular, fair increases in the basic state pension. But, while we are tackling the toughest decisions - with both spending cuts and some tax increases - we are determined to make sure that no-one, no matter how wealthy or powerful, is able to avoid taking their share of the strain.
KEEPING THE CHIEFTAIN ON THE TRACKS
The Inverness Courier deserves enormous credit for its work to highlight the importance of the Highland Chieftain - the only direct day-time rail service between Inverness and London.
The value of the link to our economy is undeniable. The question-mark over its future comes from doubt over the replacement of existing diesel rolling stock with new trains capable of running on electricity too.
Whatever the outcome of that decision, it is important that the link should be retained. I will work hard to make sure that it is.
Posted on: 28/09/2010
