BRITAIN: Charles Kennedy launched his election manifesto yesterday, proclaiming the Liberal Democrats the party of honest taxation and the real alternative to Labour and the Conservatives.
Returning to the frontline two days after the birth of his son, Donald James, Mr Kennedy declared that there was "a lot to be said for new arrivals" as he offered what he hoped would prove a populist agenda, promising a new 50 per cent tax rate on earnings over £100,000 to fund the scrapping of university fees, free personal care and the replacement of the council tax with a new local income tax.
The Lib Dems claim that 15 million households will be better off as a result of the new local tax, while six million pensioners will not have to pay at all. However, the party's treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, was forced to apologise after Mr Kennedy apparently struggled to explain the new policy.
As Labour and the Conservatives insisted that the party's sums did not add up, the Lib Dems were also coming under pressure to explain the omission of one controversial policy - the scrapping of mandatory life sentences for murderers - from the manifesto. Party chairman Matthew Taylor was also pressed on BBC Radio 4's PM programme to define the "liberalism" of the party's support for an Equality Act which would not extend beyond the government's endorsement of civil contracts to embrace the principle of gay or same-sex marriage. Mr Taylor said in respect of what he termed "religious marriage" that this was not an issue for the party to legislate on.
Introducing the manifesto, Mr Kennedy said that his party represented the right option for those who did not want either the "authoritarian instincts of the Labour government" or the "insular and narrow-minded instincts of the Conservative Party".
Setting out his party's "positive programme for governing Britain", Mr Kennedy said: "It is a programme based on fairness and opportunity, dignity for older people, real opportunity for our children and a fair deal for families."
Insisting that the Lib Dems offered the real alternative in the May 5th election, he continued: "Over the course of the last parliament the Liberal Democrats have been the real opposition - over issues like Iraq, student top-up fees, the council tax and compulsory ID cards. . . Our manifesto sets out a vision of Britain with good-quality local public services - good schools and hospitals, a strong, stable economy, a Britain that celebrates diversity and provides opportunities for each individual to make the best of their talents, a greener Britain that lives up to its responsibilities to future generations, cleaner energy and less pollution. That is why we have called this manifesto 'The Real Alternative'."
The confusion about the new local income tax came as Mr Kennedy attempted to explain how much it would raise and who would end up paying more. With some eight million people expected to be worse off following the change, he first suggested that the overall burden would be less than the council tax before saying that it would remain the same. "The total sum that is raised under our proposal on local income tax is no more than the total sum that is presently raised by council tax, full stop. But not less, and we are not saying less," he said.
Figures later released by the party confirmed that the amount raised by the local income tax would be £2.4 billion less than the total raised by the council tax, with the shortfall intended to be met from the new top rate of income tax. Party treasury spokesman Vince Cable later told the BBC's Daily Politics programme that Mr Kennedy "knew the policy" while admitting that this had not come across.
Other pledges included: 21,000 extra teachers; free eye and dental checks; £100 more per month for over-75s; 10,000 extra police and scrapping ID cards. There would also be a new "citizen's pension", giving women an automatic right to a full state pension based on residence rather than national insurance contributions.
Mr Kennedy renewed his call for the UK to join the euro and for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq by the end of this year.