Not by the poor it won’t, I reckon. And they’re armed with votes. Maybe New Labour are calculating that their urban heartlands are safe, while Middle England will be grateful for its tax cut at the poor’s expense.

I’m not so sure. Some of the so-called rebels are apparently already declaring victory just because Alistair Darling went on the telly yesterday and muttered a few non-specifics. The government will squeak the vote and because poor people don’t work in the media it’ll all be conveniently forgotten in time for the local elections.

Yep: Power, rather than office, has been one of the hallmarks of New Labour (i.e. they have all the resources of the state at their disposal to pursue social justice, and they come up with [insert list of dumb policy decisions here]).

That said, I think they’re screwed on this one. If they vote down the tax change, Brown and Darling’s authority (don’t laugh) gets torpedoed, and the latter has to find £7bn from somewhere to plug the gap. If they keep it, the affected voters will suffer until Darling cobbles something together in next year’s budget. And all the time they can’t answer the question: why is it that these poorer voters end up with a tax increase? The phrase ‘hoist with his own petard’ springs to mind.

I think there are a few other reasons why they might be facing an election defeat as well…

http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com

Indeed I still recall David Aaronovitch’s column on the subject, applauding its courage and saying that the Left should all support it.

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