Election Wars

Fat Cats on exodus to tax havens

 PM realises that Michael Gove's legacy is failing

There she blows - the Miliband deterrent

The 2015 General Election is beginning to become a real fight between strongly divergent political parties after the years when parties converged on neo-liberal economics and the privatisation of public services The Labour Party promised to scrap tax privileges for the non-doms and to increase the higher rate of tax whilst eliminating zero hour contracts and increasing the minimum wage is shifting the polls.

Even the Telegraph acknowledges that Labour is now 2% ahead in the polls whilst at the same time defending the tax concessions for non-doms and offshore tax havens such as those of its owners, the Barclay Brothers. The press probably realises that they don't have the influence of yesteryear as voters are increasingly forming opinions from social media. The Tories have also realised that their preferred issues of tax and spend are not cutting it with the electorate so they have tacked away to create a new front on defence. The scurrilous story about Miliband being untrustworthy because he had the temerity to stand against his older brother to win the Labour leadership is the nadir of the campaign so far. According to the Tory attack dog Michael Fallon, the Defence secretary, Trident would be sacrificed by Labour in creating a deal with the SNP.  To add insult to the story the Telegraph also claims that President Putin wants Ed Miliband as PM.

No doubt there is a lot more nonsense to come, the Tories had expected to open a 4% or 5% lead over Labour by this stage of the campaign as they targeted Miliband, blamed the banking crisis on the previous government and claimed only they could be trusted with the economy. Instead, it is Cameron who is branded as a coward for not participating in a debate against Milliband, stalling the economic recovery and being out of touch with the impact of his Education and Health reforms; even the schoolgirl in the picture above seems to get this.

The PM needs to calm down and realise that the last five years have not only led to a far slower economic recovery than was being achieved by Chancellor Darling but also that sacrificing public services is not very popular with the majority of the population. It is hoped that the other parties will resist the temptation to indulge in personal abuse.  After the shameful tactics of today, the Tories have won their status as the nasty party but that could become an advantage in these crazed days.