Revealed today on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph is the most hateful and spiteful Government policy I have ever known - to increase the council tax of those who have a nice view from their house. Forgive me for being a little traditional, but I thought taxes were for paying for communal services, not payment and punishment for quality of life.
Even the thought of taxing the quality of a house rather than its existence is beyond belief:
It taunts and smacks those who have dared to succeed and prosper;
It terrorises and wards-off those who so much as aspire to succeed and prosper;
It rewards irresponsibility and compliance;
It seemingly advocates the destruction of open spaces (if we can't have them, no-one can);
It further condemns the English countryside, farming and those who live there and manage and protect it;
It could prove to be the ultimate irony in the West Lothian question (remember the poll tax trial in Scotland);
but worst of all, it feeds that most base human instinct of envy.
The petty, nasty chippiness of old Labour has been well hidden these past few years, but it is clear now that as Blair's power starts to wane, the old Labour power bases of the ODPM and Chancery are coming to life again. Only Prescott and Cooper and Brown could propose this sort of vicious, hateful and hypocritical taxation policy.
The combination of New Labour hypocrisy and sleaze combined with the prospect of an ever more oppressive and control-crazed Old Labour government should, in the hands of a competent politician, see them consigned to opposition for another 20 years.
For the government to advocate a policy of this nature is to declare war on millions of Britain's finest people. People who have built this country on hard work, investment, job creation, economic growth, competitive spirit, clean living and family values. It makes the poll tax look positively reasonable.
So it is now, right this very moment, that a Conservative leadership candidate can put Labour, new and old, to the sword in a single stroke and win back the millions of people who deserted in 1997. This is the most outstanding opportunity we have had to wake those swing voters and non voters from their slumber and in the hands of Mr David Cameron could prove conclusive, not just now in this contest, but in a much greater contest in three to four years time.
2 comments:
A particularly fine post.
Could we have more details on the policy?
I suspect that this may be the time for the tories to prepare to steal the 'baton of power'...however, baton's are usually passed on. This one, I fear, will not be given up that easily.
So called 'New' labour are not actually being new at all. They are constantly increasing the role and dominanace of the State in the day to day running of everyone's life, just has many leftside government's have done in the past. This is the front that any reformed Tory Party should fight upon. Even under Thatcher, whilst much of the media portrayed her as a control freak dictator, she actually championed the 'whithering' away of the State. Surely this is the chink in the armour of New Labour?
I have just watched the BBC report on Labour's new Curriculum policy of the under 3's. Its a shame that it comes at a time when because of leadership battles (Tories) and shear hopeless ineptitude (Lib Dems), there exists no effective opposition. How long will the country stomach such nonsense? Were I to have another child I should like to retain the priviledge of moulding the child myself...this policy would be better placed between the covers of a Huxley book than on the pages of Statute. And of course, once on the books it becomes harder and harder to erase.
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