10/10/2007

Cameron Brands Brown 'A Phoney'

Conservative leader David Cameron clashed with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, branding him a "phoney" during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Mr Cameron accused Mr Brown of "bottling out of an election", of copying Conservative tax plans and for refusing to hold a referendum on the EU Treaty.

The Conservative leader also accused the Prime Minister of treating the British public "like fools" by not admitting poor opinion polls had led to him calling off an election. He said: "Do you realise what a phoney you now look? Have you found a single person who believes your excuses?"

Mr Cameron added that Mr Brown's credibility had been damaged by his failure to hold a referendum on the EU treaty, and asked whether Labour had copied Tory policies on inheritance tax and non-domiciles.

He was referring to plans announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in his pre-Budget report, which pledged to increase the inheritance tax threshold for married couples to £700,000 from 2010 and also outlined plans to close tax loopholes for UK residents who take advantage of non-domicile status by registering abroad for tax purposes.

Both issues had been brought up during the recent annual Conservative party conference, where the Tories proposed charging 'non-doms', a flat rate of £25,000 and pledged to raise the inheritance tax limit to £1 million.

Mr Brown responded by referring to the recent Conservative row over grammar schools and saying that he would take "no lessons" from David Cameron.

He also accused the Conservative leader of resorting to the same 'Punch and Judy politics' that he had wanted an end to.

However, Mr Cameron responded by challenging Mr Brown to call an election, saying: "Find a bit of courage, get a bit of bottle, get into your car, go down to Buckingham Palace and call that election."

However, the Liberal Democrats have branded the Tories as 'hypocrites' saying that proposals on taxing non-domiciles and increasing the inheritance tax threshold were originally theirs.

The party's treasury spokesperson Vince Cable said: "For the Tories to be complaining about the government stealing their policies is like a gang of thieves protesting about their houses being burgled.

"We're used to having our ideas stolen, if there were intellectual property rights protecting political ideas we would be a very rich party."

(KMcA)




Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

30 November 2010
Corporation Tax Reform To Create 'Competition'
The Government has published details of its Corporate Tax Reform programme consisting of a series of essential reforms designed to improve the UK's tax competitiveness. Measures include the introduction of new Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules and a commitment to introduce a Patent Box.
30 January 2004
Government hails Child Tax Credit figures
The government has hailed its Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit after official figures revealed that six million families had taken up the scheme in the 10 months since their introduction.
11 November 2008
Conservative Tax Cuts Would Create Jobs, Says Cameron
A Tory government would slash corporation tax to stimulate new jobs, in an attempt to reduce the impact of a looming recession, David Cameron has insisted. Opposition leader, Mr Cameron, who still leads in voter opinion polls, said a Conservative administration would generate an additional 350,000 by providing tax breaks to UK firms.
03 October 2011
Councils To Be Offered Tax Freeze: Osborne
The Conservative Party Conference, today featuring speeches from the Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, in Manchester is now in progress. Running from October 2-5, already, a council tax freeze in England to 2012-13 has been unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne at the event.
21 February 2005
Tories promise to reduce council tax for pensioners
Conservative leader Michael Howard has pledged to reduce council tax payments for pensioners, if the party win at the next General Election. Mr Howard said that, under a Conservative government, households where all adults are aged 65 and over would have their council tax bills halved, up to a maximum value of £500.