Prime Minister right to veto mansion tax

Last week, we revealed that a truly dreadful idea was being kicked around at the Treasury and No10: a mansion tax, to be imposed either as a direct levy on expensive homes or as additional council tax bands. The news came as a shock to readers, long-standing party activists and anyone who lent the Tories their vote on the understanding that it was Labour that raided people’s pockets, not the Conservatives.

So, it is most welcome we can now reveal that the Prime Minister has decided not to go ahead with the idea. Having quite rightly backed away from what would’ve been a disastrous and divisive move, the Government is now back focusing on a series of genuinely conservative priorities.

First, Mr Johnson has made an encouraging new appointment in Suella Braverman – a critic of over-mighty, politically biased judges – as Attorney General. The powers and prerogatives of the judiciary have expanded wildly, usually under the cover of the Human Rights Act. This drift towards legislating from the bench is undemocratic and must be reversed.

Second, the Government has set its sights on the BBC. The TV set has gone from a monopoly provider of entertainment to one of many, sometimes infinitely better, options. Thus, it makes no sense to stick to an outdated licence-fee paying model that threatens prison for non-payment (especially when so much of the BBC’s content insults viewers’ values and intelligence). The last government threw the BBC a lifeline by essentially keeping things as they were, but as technology advances, the more pressing reform becomes.

Third, we have entered the next stage in Brexit: negotiations over the future relationship. Here, again, the Government has started on exactly the right note by getting ready to dismiss demands that the UK abide by EU rules on tax and labour law. The EU is in no position to ask from Britain things it doesn’t get from other trade partners; if it’s operating under the illusion that we’re going to behave as if we never left the bloc then it is mistaken. The UK has a new, very different and dynamic kind of government – and its loyalty to those who voted for it must be paramount.