26 March 2004
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has told his party's spring conference that he is not scared to use the word 'redistribution' when describing his tax and spending plans.
Kennedy said that money raised by increasing the top rate of income tax to 50% on incomes in excess of £100,000 would be used to scrap university tuition fees, establish free long-term care for elderly people and 'smooth the path' for a local income tax.
Speaking in Southport on March 22, Kennedy said: 'What's fair about top-up and tuition fees? Is it fair that – if the prime minister gets his way – a young graduate could be paying a higher marginal rate of tax than a millionaire?'
He continued: 'And what's fair about making an elderly person with, for example, Alzheimer's disease, pay for their personal care? A Liberal Democrat government would introduce free long-term personal care for the elderly as a right. We've costed it – we can do it – and we've done it in Scotland.'
Health spokesman Paul Burstow also attacked Labour, claiming that the National Health Service target culture had recently led to 25 people needlessly going blind. The affected patients had their appointments in Bristol cancelled so that the hospital could instead hit its waiting list target, Burstow claimed.
He added: 'To be genuinely responsive to patients and to local community needs, the NHS must be free to determine local priorities. Political targets have created a climate where doctors are pressured to put targets before the best interests of patients.
'How many more victims of Labour's targets must there be before they are finally scrapped?'
The party plans to make council tax abolition a central plank of its campaign for the June 10 local elections. Edward Davey, LibDem spokesman on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister issues, told delegates that council tax was 'hugely regressive', and that independent scrutiny from CIPFA had concluded that local income tax was 'a viable alternative'.
The party's education spokesman, Phil Willis, earlier told the conference that the Bill to implement top-up tuition fees meant: 'Tony Blair is destroying the fabric of our education system.'
PFmar2004
