Ed Milliband .....

And supported by so many at the time

This has been spoken about by the government in parliament for a while. Tory Robert Halfon has been an a campaigner on the 10p tax. The Treasury have been looking at it but I don't think it is proving to be as viable as taking the tax threshold higher, which is happening over this parliament.

It has been established that to fund the 25 million tax payers Miliband has said it will help, £100.000 will have to be taken from each home worth over 2 million. More figures may and will come out to contradict or affirm I am sure.

Also Miliband refuses to put it into his manifesto for the next election. Also the 'mansion tax'. He has been categoric on that question.

Watch Andrew Neil on todays BBC Daily Politics show talking to Ed Balls. Very good.

I did like the way he threw Gordon Brown under the bus, whilst accepting no responsibility himself, nor Balls and yet they were right hand men of Gordon Brown helping to make financial policies.

Well said, POGS!

POGS, Gone is the Labour party I grew up under.

What we have now are economists, not Socialists.

Britain is finished.

Ivanhoe

Not heard that before.

IVANHOE

I WAS 13 AS I GREETED MY FATHER COMING OUT OF THE MINERS HALL WHERE THEY HAD BEEN TALKING STRIKE ACTION, I ASKED HIM IF THEY WERE ALL SOCIALISTS, HE REPLIED "GIVE ANYONE OF THEM 10 BOB MORE THAN HIS MATES AND HE WILL BE A CONSERVATIVE. IS IT STILL LIKE THAT NOW?
JUDGING FROM THE WAY COUNCILLORS LOAD THEIR POCKETS PERHAPS DAD WAS RIGHT. WOULD IT NOT BE A BETTER SYSTEM OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IF
COUNCILLORS WERE NOT PAID AND ALL COUNCILLORS PAID THERE OWN EXPENSES? PERHAPS THOSE WHO HAVE THE EXPERIENCE AND BRAINS TO HELP WOULD NOT BE SO RELUCTANT TO ENTER THE POLITICAL ARENA.
THERE IS NOTHING SO PAINFUL AS LISTENING TO LOCAL COUNCILLORS MANY OF WHOM DO NOT HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.
LET US ALL PROPOSE TO GOVERNMENT TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM. PERHAPS THEN COUNCILS MAY GOVERN FOR THE GOOD OF EVERYONE, NOT POLITICAL PARTIES.

cannybairn there are possibly, maybe, hopefully some honest politicians at both local and national level. Sadly, I think they are few and far between. There is an advantage to my mind in coming from a wealthy background, at least you aren't motivated by the desire to accumulate money.

Ivanhoe agree! Where are the true socialist labour people? Who can we vote for now most parties are basically either centre right or very right!
There was no-one on the voting slip in our recent local election I felt represented any of my views!

I think you are dead right cannybairn . I was quite involved with the Labour Party when I was young. I eventually had my eyes opened and saw the blatant corruption ( you vote for me and I will vote for you ) with my own eyes. I was quite ill when I was in my late 20's and early 30's and I was literally fought over ( for the only time in my life) when various people wanted my vote on a particular committee or other. It was funny when 3 cars pulled up outside my council house to pick me up to take me to a meeting! Airport committees were always quite lucrative ( especially when Newcastle was undergoing huge expansion) and Education was quite a good "earner" too. Long gone are the days when genuine people did anything for genuine reasons.

Your dads philosophy was spot on.

Sel People coming from a wealthy background aren't motivated by the desire to accumulate money? I'm not so sure about that one - they certainly seem quite keen to hang on to it anyway.

Eloethan I think Tony Blair may win the wealth accumulator cup

I think, more than ever in the past, politics has become a career route for dubious people of small talent with no experience of working life. There are still some with higher ideals who do work for the good of the country and the people but I think they are thin on the ground.

It is a route to wealth that many would never have achieved any other way. If you come from a wealthy background then maybe acquiring more isn't the biggest motivator.

Something I have been following in the local news worries me a great deal. Apparently many labour controlled councils (of which we are one) are plotting to do away with the "single persons allowance" in council tax. This will not effect me but I feel for single people who will then have to pay full council tax. You can bet your bottom dollar that if it is rolled out in labour controlled councils the rest will follow pretty quickly.

Sel I agree with you about Blair and about career politicians who don't appear to have any real principles.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.