Politics of nuance

Labour’s attack on super-rich

AT LEAST Boris Johnson was candid when he told business leaders that he would postpone a reduction in corporation tax to help fund his NHS spending commitments.

A surprising eve of election commitment, it now needs to be set in the context of the latest politics of envy espoused by John McDonnell, Labour’s prospective Chancellor.

Mr McDonnell’s attack on the super-rich, and, specifically, those billionaires who have contributed to the Tory party’s coffers, confirmed that the politics of nuance is dead in the era of the political soundbite.

He conveniently forgets that it would be even more difficult to fund its myriad spending pledges – reputed to amount to £1.2 trillion – if it wasn’t for the fact that the top one per cent of wealthcreators are paying greater share of tax now than they did in the final year of the last Labour government.

And, as tax receipts from business reach a record high according to the Tories, Labour – and other left-wing parties – risk alienating the ambitious and stifling the entrepreneurship that underpins all successful economies.

After all, these are the go-getting wealth-creators whose success – provided that they meet their tax obligations to the HMRC

– is critical to generating sufficient money to fund key services, like social care, so that the poorest families in the land face less of a financial burden moving forward.

As such, any credible plan for public service reform must be allied to a wider policy prospectus which enables the private sector to flourish and generate a new era of economic growth after a decade of austerity and stagnation.