I am sorry to see Anthony Jacobs - head of the British School of Motoring to baked potato business empire - leave the Liberal Democrats, and not just because we shall miss his financial contributions.He once phoned me to correct the finer points of a piece of gossip in Liberator and seemed amused that Lord Bonkers had recently claimed he was the mother of the broadcaster David Jacobs.
According to Sam Coates, who broke the story for The Times on the Red Box blog:
But then, as James Forsyth says on the Spectator Coffee House blog:His beef is that he wants Clegg to go further on tax, taking the lowest paid out of tax altogether but also reducing the rates for higher earners. The party is reluctant to raise employers national insurance by the required amount to pay for it, and relations have clearly broken down.
Considering that until Clegg’s leadership, the Lib Dems were to the left of Labour on tax it is puzzling that Jacobs was previously happy to donate money to the party. It seems most odds to leave the party just at the moment that the Lib Dems seem to be inching in his direction.Forsyth says that Jacobs has met senior figures in both the other parties, but suggests that his policy demands make it unlikely that he will join either of them.
With the news that thousands of HMRC income tax staff are to go, and the rumour that they no longer chase people who only owe a small amount of tax, the expectation must be that the ground is being prepared to take large numbers of people on low incomes out of paying income tax. Didn't Vince ask for that? He should be Chancellor, and then we might have a govt run by 3 people rather than 2.
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