Sally Keeble has been taken in by Government spin over tax rise - Andrew Simpson

10.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 29th Apr 2008

Liberal Democrats in Northampton have accused Labour MP Sally Keeble of letting down local people on low and modest incomes, by backing the Government over the doubling of the 10p tax rate without an adequate compensation package.

Andrew Simpson, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Northampton North, said:

"Sally Keeble has been taken in by the Government. The Government's compensation promise offers no guarantees at all.

"The Government won't say how many people it will help. They won't say if it will be permanent, or just for one year. And they already seem to have gone back on their promise that it will all be backdated.

"How do the Government expect people on below average incomes to pay today's bills with money they won't get for another six months - and that there is no guarantee they will even get then?

"Last night MPs had a chance to guarantee that the compensation package that the Government eventually come up with will be an adequate one - by voting for an amendment that said the 10p rate would be restored at the start of next year unless MPs have voted to approve a compensation package they judge to be adequate before then.

"Sadly Sally Keeble voted against this. She seems content to trust Gordon Brown on this, when all evidence so far suggests he cannot be trusted on this issue. It was Gordon Brown after all, who originally claimed no-one would lose out under the changes.

"Labour MPs have now been fooled twice on the 10p rate. First in March last year, when they cheered Gordon Brown's budget and it was left to the Liberal Democrats to point out he was upping tax on the low paid. Now they have been fooled again by a promise of compensation which has more holes than a fishing net.

"It is clear that Sally Keeble cannot be relied on to stand up for local people on low and modest incomes.

"It is clear that the Liberal Democrats, not Labour, are the party of fairness in Britain today."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

According to data released by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, losers from the doubling of the 10p rate will be those on incomes between £5,435 and £19,355. http://www.ifs.org.uk/press.php?publication_id=4195

There are currently 58 constituencies which have an average income below £19,355 of which 51 of these are held by Labour MPs. Data has been taken from the latest HRMC income data from 05/06 and up-rated by average earnings. (http://www.hmcr.eu/stats/income_distribution/menu-by-year.htm#315