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Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North East Fife, Sir Menzies Campbell, has reiterated his scathing attack on Gordon Brown’s sleight of hand on the 10p tax rate at a time when those hardest hit will have now received their first pay cheque under the newly defined tax bands.

Sir Menzies, who was the first person to bring this matter to the attention of Parliament at the time of Gordon Brown’s final budget as Chancellor, has also lambasted the Government’s spin on their tax rise by questioning the “compensation package” which is not only less than adequate but also offers no guarantees at all.

“The Government won’t say how many people it will help. They won’t even 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,” remarked Sir Menzies.

“As I said at the time of the budget, things have gone seriously wrong when Labour has pushed up taxes on people on low incomes to pay for tax cuts for the better off. Gordon Brown giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other. His persona has evolved from Stalin through Mr Bean to Paul Daniels.

“It seems Labour has totally lost touch with the reality of ordinary people’s lives. Labour is no longer on the side of the less well-off.

“Thousands of residents on lower incomes in North East Fife will receive sharply increased tax demands at a time when they are also facing big rises in bills for gas, electricity and transport.”

Sir Menzies has also called into question the Conservative party’s role in 10p tax debacle, “The Conservatives have a hypocritical record on this subject,” observed Sir Menzies. “When the 10p rate was first introduced they voted against it; they later abstained from voting on the subject and now they are voting against its abolition.

“I voted against this measure becoming law and will do so again if another vote is called. Liberal Democrats believe that the standard rate of income tax should be cut by 4p by increasing taxes on the wealthy rather than on the poorest in society,” concluded Sir Menzies.

more … ]]> North East Fife Member of Parliament, Sir Menzies Campbell has called today’s Budget from the Chancellor of the Exchequer “neither fair nor green”.

Commenting on its content, Sir Menzies said, “ This budget is neither fair nor green. It does not go nearly far enough with green taxes, which could be used to help low and middle income families in the form of tax cuts. The Government has produced a budget that protects the rich and abandons the poor. Many people in North East Fife who are already feeling the pinch are even worse off today.

“None of its green tax proposals, Aviation tax, road tax changes or plastic bag taxes will be implemented before 2009 at the earliest. This is hardly the urgent attention that the environment needs.

“This too is the budget when the Government gave up on its 2010 child poverty target. By it’s own calculations, it will only be putting an additional £1bn into combating child poverty, £2.5bn less than is needed to meet its target.”

ENDS

more … ]]> North East Fife Liberal Democrat MP Menzies Campbell has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling to again highlight his concerns about the failings of the tax credit system.

Commenting Menzies Campbell said “Ever since Gordon Brown introduced this very complicated tax credit system it has caused severe problems. A typical problem is a demand for an alleged overpayment which because of the amount has caused many of my constituents considerable anxiety. The system needs to be simpler and more user friendly and until it is problems will remain”.

Ends

Follows is Menzies Campbell’s letter to Alistair Darling

Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP
The Chancellor of the Exchequer
Treasury Chambers
Parliament Street
London SW1P 3AG

4th February 2008

I am writing to you to express my concerns about the operation of the tax credit system.

As you will be aware I have regularly raised issues on behalf of individual constituents with you and your predecessor and each case is rightly dealt with on its own merits. Usually the problem is a request for a repayment of an alleged overpayment of tax credits. You will be aware that in many cases the sums of money involved are several thousands of pounds, which not surprisingly causes considerable anxiety to my constituents.

I have two cases recently which exemplify my long standing concerns about the operation of the tax credit system. In each case my constituents were asked to repay a four figure sum because they allegedly had not provided information about a change in their circumstances. In each case they claimed that they had timeously provided this information but had to go to great lengths to prove it.

My concern is that due to failings in the system, the onus of proof falls unfairly and unreasonably to my constituents. This generally involves repeated correspondence between myself and Ministers. In one case recently my constituent had to go to the length of providing a disc to HMRC, which they had obtained from HMRC, of their telephone calls with HMRC, by way of evidence. I would be grateful for your comments.

Yours sincerely

Menzies Campbell

more … ]]> Following the recent revelations that both the UK and Scottish Government lost valuable personal data of UK citizens in the post, North East Fife Member of Parliament, Sir Menzies Campbell has repeated his call for the controversial national ID Card scheme to be scrapped.

“This is an example of Government mismanagement and mal-administration both north and south of the border,” said Sir Menzies.

“It is outrageous that such valuable personal information found its way on to two CD’s, but that it was simply stuck in the post and not recorded is astonishing.

“Further to this, the Scottish Executive’s disclosure that it had also lost personal information, this time of 200 NHS staff, really does raise the question of whether there is a suitable procedure in place by authorities to handle and deal with such sensitive information. Although the package has now been found, the panic was not reassuring.”

Concluding, Menzies Campbell said, “These events cast serious doubts on the Government’s ability to manage the vast amounts of our information which would be involved in a National Identity card scheme.”

more … ]]> Ahead of the Chancellor’s statement on the Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell called on Gordon Brown to take responsibility for the turmoil in the economy.

Ming accused Gordon Brown of going to ground while his Chancellor tries to steer his way through the stormy economic waters of the Prime Minister’s making.

He said:

“Gordon Brown must stand up and take responsibility for creating an economic outlook full of uncertainty and instability.

“As Chancellor, Gordon Brown happily lauded his own economic wizardry, but failed even to recognise the growing problems of personal debt. Personal debt now stands at £1.3 trillion and households now have to set aside about a fifth of their income to service existing debt, two fifths for first time buyers.

“Every day nearly 300 people face insolvency and 75 family homes are repossessed. All the indications are that the problems could get much worse. This is a problem of the Prime Minister’s making and he must take personal responsibility for it.”

Ming Campbell attacked the Prime Minister for creating a situation in which he offered tax breaks for the wealthy while increasing taxes for those on lower and middle incomes. He said:

“Since Labour came to power the gap between rich and poor has increased and social mobility has declined.

“We want to see a cut in national income tax by 4p funded by environmental taxes and taxes on the wealthy.

“Council tax in particular places an unfair burden on pensioners and the low paid, it is likely that by 2011 average council tax bills will have increased by 120% since Labour came to power. It is high time we moved to local taxation based on the ability to pay.

“The majority of people feel overtaxed, it is now time to cut taxation for low and middle income groups to make work pay and ensure that the super-rich pay their fair share.”

Concluding Ming said:

“The UK is now in a situation in which there is likely to be a painful economic slowdown and a housing market correction, given difficulty in servicing high levels of consumer debt, a lack of confidence in the banking system and unfairness in the tax system. Gordon Brown must take personal responsibility for this.”

more … ]]> The Liberal Democrats are to table proposals in Parliament for a fixed four-year general election cycle.

Ming Campbell told the BBC:

“It’s high time, in my view, that the decision about a general election is not part of the discretion of the Prime Minister.

“Inevitably in those circumstances the Prime Minister’s attitude will be conditioned by what he thinks is best for him and best for his party.

“We should have it done on a fixed full-term basis then everyone knows where they stand, the public has a degree of certainty and a degree of confidence in the process, which the events of the last week have shown is sadly lacking.”

more … ]]> Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell launched an attack on Gordon Brown for failing to deliver real change for Britain in his first 100 days as Prime Minister.

He said:

“Mr Brown has been working hard to convince the British public that there has been real change in Number 10.

“Yet he cannot escape the fact that as Chancellor he had unparalleled influence over government. He failed to raise green taxes to tackle climate change, supported and signed the cheques for the Iraq war and personally led a smash and grab raid on private pensions.

“As Prime Minister Gordon Brown may talk about change, but he has failed to deliver the real change that Britain needs.

“He has failed to end Labour’s assault on civil liberties, failed to grasp the nettle of climate change, failed to open the poverty trap, failed to give power back to people and failed to restore Britain’s international reputation.

“This country needs a new direction and Gordon Brown can’t deliver it.”

more … ]]> Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell has called on Labour and the Conservatives to focus on the real issue facing our troops in Iraq, the timing of their withdrawal, not the timing of political announcements.

He said:

“It’s time both the Labour and Conservative parties stopped playing cynical political games over Iraq and took responsibility for their disastrous military action there.

“It certainly hasn’t taken long for a Prime Minister billed as a statesman to show himself as just another short term political tactician once a general election is in the offing.

“We mustn’t allow shallow posturing to obscure the real issue: what possible purpose is served by British troops remaining in Iraq?

“If their continued presence is merely to provide political cover for the United States then the Government must come clean.”

Sign Ming’s petition to pull British troops out of Iraq here.

more … ]]> Commenting on the revelation that only 500 extra troops are being withdrawn from Iraq, Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell said:

“Any troop withdrawal from Iraq is welcome, but this is a cynical effort to manipulate the figures and make it look more significant than is really the case.

“In fact only 500 more troops will be pulled out of southern Iraq, since the withdrawal of the other 500 had already been announced.

“It still leaves 4,500 British troops trapped in Basra airport where they no longer serve any real military or political purpose.

“What we need is a clear timetable to withdraw all our forces to safety within six months.”

more … ]]> Responding to reports, accompanying Gordon Brown’s visit to Iraq today, that 2,000 troops could be brought home by the spring, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell said:

“While we welcome any reduction in the number of British troops in Iraq, there is now an urgent need to get all the 5,000 remaining troops home.

“The overriding question is whether there is any military or political benefit to be gained from the continued presence of our armed forces in Iraq. The answer is clearly no.

“The Government should draw up a timetable to get all our soldiers safely home within six months.”

Sign Ming’s petition to pull British troops out of Iraq here.