Gordon Brown’s call for a raft of gambling tax hikes today is a rerun of his long-running attempt to kill the industry. This latest wheeze from the ex-PM is no different…
The tax hike calls come this time from Labour’s house think tank the IPPR which proposes hiking duties:
The proposals strangely enough echo those proposed by Brown and his wonks at the Social Market Foundation. Its head ex-Brown spinner Theo Bertram is running defence of the IPPR report on X today…
There is no groundswell of support for gambling taxation – it is a co-ordinated campaign from Brown and his cronies. Aveek Bhattachayra, formerly the SMF’s economist, transferred to the Treasury in March this year as Head of Excise. Coincidentally the Treasury has now run and finished a “consultation” on remote gambling which signals the government’s aims to raise a raft of gambling duties. Goodbye racing and online bingo…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”