The Liberal Democrats are keen to use today to show that Coalition works, but Lord Oakeshott is in a less charitable mood. I’ve just had a chat with him about George Osborne’s explicit rejection of the mansion tax in his statement today as ‘intrusive’. The former Lib Dem Treasury spokesman in the House of Lords says:
‘I’m not withdrawing anything I have said about the Tories and the mansion tax. Intrusive is exactly what taxes on high-end tax dodgers have to be. George Osborne has performed a screeching handbrake turn on Tory donors’ orders.’
Nick Clegg’s aides have been trying to labour the proalition point in their briefings , though. A source close to the Lib Dem leader said this afternoon that this was ‘another example of the two parties working together, taking difficult decisions to fix the economy’.
They are even trying to steer away from gloating too much over the rise in the personal tax allowance, which is generous of them.
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