The Conservative party has revealed England will have it own income tax rate within one year if the party is voted in, in next month’s general election, William Hague has said.
Mr Hague will today (24 April) unveil the Conservative Party’s England manifesto alongside David Cameron, which will propose rules to deal with the so-called ‘West Lothian question’, or ‘English votes for English laws’.
According to reports, a Conservative government will, within 100 days of the general election, introduce legislation to ensure that English MPs have a veto over laws applying only to their constituents.
Income tax bands are established on a UK-wide basis but under the proposals of the Smith Commission, set up to meet devolution pledges made during the independence referendum, the Scottish Parliament will be given the right to vary and effectively set its own rates.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Hague accused Labour leader Ed Miliband of showing “arrogance” by ignoring the needs of English voters by refusing to back plans to have “English votes for English laws”.
The Labour party has said it supports the principle of addressing the conflict between England and the devolved regions but that it would establish a ‘constitutional convention’ to review potential solutions and wider devolution issues.
Mr Hague told The Daily Telegraph: “This [manifesto]is a matter of fairness for the whole of the United Kingdom. We are going ahead with the additional devolution that’s been promised to Scotland.
“It is vital to be fair to the whole United Kingdom to keep the UK together – and that includes being fair to the voters and taxpayers of England.”
In other election-related news, David Fairs, chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries has challenged the chancellor and shadow chancellor to correctly work out annual and lifetime allowance charges for a selection of individuals who are or maybe are subject to a tax charge.
Industry experts previously accused political parties as using pensions tax relief as an ‘election piggy bank’ to fund other initiatives and election promises.
Labour’s manifesto included stopping winter fuel allowance for the richest 5 per cent, capping pension tax relief for higher earners, retaining the triple lock on state pensions and ensuring private pensions are “good value”.
The Tories pledged to cut pension tax relief for additional rate taxpayers who earn more than £150,000, with the annual allowance set to be reduced from £40,000 to £10,000.
Speaking at a pensions industry dinner, Mr Fairs said: “Removing tax relief for those earning more than £150,000 in reality means valuing total remuneration for all people whose basic salary is £80,000 or more because by the time you add on all other benefits, including pensions it is probable that you would exceed the £150,000 threshold.
“It is wrong that the highest earners receive the greatest incentive to save into pensions but there has to be a better way of distributing incentives to save and capping reliefs than the methods now being proposed.”
donia.o’loughlin@ft.com
