The lads at the Social Market Foundation, “Britain’s leading cross-party think tank” led by ex-Gordon Brown SpAd Theo Bertram, have let the cat out of the bag with their new report on council tax and social care this week. Save the Labour votes…
A new report from the SMF argues that old age social care should be taken off councils and funded nationally,after which council tax should be reformed or abolished and replaced with another tax. Which would no doubt detonate another bomb in the economy…
The think tank says it’s not that simple, however, because London specifically gains least from nationalising social care thanks to its young population and strong tax base. It meanwhile loses most from council tax revaluation because its property values have risen furthest above 1991 levels. It argues that this makes its proposals a problem because… Labour would lose votes:
“London cannot be assumed to accept large losses simply because it has historically voted Labour: its electorate is diverse, high housing costs are widely felt, and voters can shift to other parties when policy cuts against their interests. The package therefore still requires equalisation, affordability protections and a credible national funding mechanism, but it turns two reforms repeatedly judged too difficult into a single, more coherent political offer.”
SMF insists that “we do not take sides in party political debates but work to inform people, of all parties and none, about how public policy can improve outcomes.” It spends large amounts of time pushing for Gordon Brown’s pet gambling taxation. The mask slips…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”