House of Comments - Episode 92 - Down in the Flood

Episode 92 of the House of Comments podcast "Down in the Flood" is out. Emma myself and our new third co-host Nick Denys discuss the newly released revelations about the miners' strike, the debate around Romanian and Bulgarian immigration, the recent floods and the politics of the Environment Agency and flood defences funding, the latest Lord Ashcroft "Mega Poll" and they make their political predictions for the coming year.

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PS: A big thanks to Audioboo for hosting the podcast for us. We would also like to thank Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech.com for our theme music.

Lord Ashcroft - Only Dom When We're Winning

Of all the aspects of the Lord Ashcroft revelations regarding his now admitted non-dom status, the one that stands out the most for me is the suggestion that he will only sort this out and become domiciled for tax purposes if the Tories win the election.

As highlighted in this story in the Mail today:

Lord Ashcroft suggested yesterday that he would change his status and remain in the Lords if the Tories win the election and press ahead with a planned change in the law forcing all MPs and peers to pay tax on their worldwide income.

So even now he is hedging his bets and making any change in his status contingent on a Tory win. Perhaps this goes a long way to explaining why it has taken him 10 years to admit his tax status. Had he done so in he last decade he may well have found it impossible to remain a non-dom whilst being deeply involved in domestic politics.

The reason this issue is so politically explosive in the first place is because of the impression given that a wealthy man who is not paying all his tax in this country is nevertheless able to hugely influence the potential outcome of an election using his wealth.

The fact that it seems like he is only willing to resolve this if his friends get into power gives an even worse impression in my view.

Ashcroft - "Someone on your side did it too" is no defence

Following the admission this morning from the Tory Lord Ashcroft that he is non-domiciled for UK tax purposes I have just spotted the following from Eric Pickles on Twitter:

ericpickles

19 minutes ago from UberTwitter

@johnprescott have you told Lord Paul to pay back 10 years of tax or shall I tell him?

ericpickles

8 minutes ago from UberTwitter

@johnprescott have you told Lakshmi Mittal to pay back 10 years of tax or shall I tell him?

ericpickles

4 minutes ago from UberTwitter

@johnprescott have you told Sir Ronald Cohen to pay back 10 years of tax or shall I tell him?

The other day when Labour were using the fact that Andy Coulson has been implicated in bullying allegations in response to the accusations against Brown, I pointed out that this attempted defence or deflection was very weak.

I am afraid the same applies here. Pickles should reflect on why it has taken years for Ashcroft to admit this, the damage it has caused to them and repairing this rather than trying to fling mud at the other side as a reflex response. It does not look good. Any party, including the Lib Dems that have non-doms will need to sort this out.

The Tories should concentrate on getting their own house in order.