Sheik Your Pass, Watch Ya Self

Ed’s Big Speech Will Make No Difference to Anything | Iain Martin
Miliband’s Welfare Cap Unravels Already | ConHome
Sod the Poor, Go Offshore! | ActionAid
Mehdi Goes All Galloway | The Commentator
Tories Are the New Workers’ Party | Fraser Nelson
Ed Miliband’s Welfare Policy Fail | Taxpayers' Alliance
Labour Now the Divided Party, Time to Unite Right | Alex Wickham
Clegg’s Government By Hissy Fit | Toby Young
EHRC Payout Over Union Discrimination | London Loves Business
Britain’s Economy is Finally Recovering | Allister Heath
Miliband Has to Say Where He Will Set Welfare Cap | Staggers

Sheik Your Pass, Watch Ya Self

Who is the mysterious owner of this Bentley currently parked outside the entrance to the House of Lords? Perhaps Mazher Mahmood is in town. Guido would like to think Honourable Members are not as silly as Tulisa, but you can never be sure…

Guidogram Going Out Shortly

The Guidogram round-up of the week is going out shortly.
Thousands of Westminster insiders read the Guidogram, everyone from Downing Street insiders to Fleet Street never miss it. Miliband’s bad day, and more…
Join the conspiracy and become a subscriber to the Guidogram, free, to keep in the loop. You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…

Labour Tax Dodge Could Pay For 70 A&E Nurses For a Year

Miliband’s tax dodge during the Q&A after his speech was nowhere near good enough to make the questions go away. Ed vows that the reason the Mills donation was made in shares is because “he wanted the Labour Party to have a steady stream of income which we will get from dividends”. When Mills himself was asked why he donated shares he said: “To be honest with you, it is the most tax efficient way of doing this. Labour has got people who deal with compliance and the legal side of all this. They are very sensitive nowadays”. One of them is lying.
The Telegraph’s accountants works out that had Mills chosen to make a donation of that size in cash, he would have had to pay £1.46 million to HMRC. Guido calculates that Labour’s efficiency trick has cost the Treasury enough money to pay for 70 A&E nurses for a year. What was that about an A&E crisis, Ed?
Tellingly it seems no Labour MPs are willing to come out and defend his position. Which reminds Guido of an anecdote shared by in house tax avoidance expert Margaret Hodge earlier this week:

“I have to share with you the classic email I had on one occasion, where I had to talk with Charlie Falconer about some shared responsibilities, and I got a speaking note from officials. It said:
“I’ve drafted up a one-page what-to-say and what-not-to-say. If there are any awkward, direct questions, it is entirely open to you to say “That’s a matter for you Lord Falconer”. You might be wise to do so. Sympathetic nods; “hmm”, “interesting” and “ah I see” are good too.”
So, I was well and truly told what was expected of me as a Minister.”

Would explain the silence from Labour MPs today. Perhaps Hodge can investigate…

Jailed £19 Million Money Launderer Was Doomed

Community ‘hero’ Abid Hussain has been jailed for his part in a £19 million money laundering racket, working with crime gangs in the Middle East to smuggle drug money into the UK. It all started to go wrong for Abid (second from left next to Labour MP Fabian Hamilton, who gave him a character reference in court) after a trip to Downing Street in 2010:

He was doomed.

Show Us Your Laser, Ed

The line from Ed’s speech  that pushed the boundaries of credibility was his promise to “be laser-focused on how we spend every single pound.” Lasers equal precision. So where is the precise detail of how Ed intends to get the welfare bill down? So far we have only had vague pledges to spend more by building houses and somehow guarantee jobs (presumably in the public-sector) which doesn’t bode well for the debt.Hardly laser like…
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has shot down Ed’s vague policy ideas to deal with welfare problems:

Housing Benefit
The main cause of Britain’s ever-increasing housing benefit bill is a lack of housing supply due to planning restrictions, not poorly negotiated deals by local authorities. Freeing up private investment in housing will bring down housing costs for everyone, including the Housing Benefit bill. Trying to cut Housing Benefit by increasing direct spending on housing won’t help taxpayers.
 
Grants for living wage
Offering taxpayers’ money to companies in return for paying a living wage would do little more than link two bad polices into one. Incentives for companies to switch from low-paid jobs to capital investment could lead to fewer jobs, not more.
 
Tax Credits and low pay
Heavy business taxes and onerous regulations mean companies have to pay lower wages. The Government should stop making it so expensive to hire low-paid workers by cutting business taxes like employer’s National Insurance and let workers keep more of the money they earn.  
 
The contributory principle
Benefits and taxes are already too complicated. Reform should focus on expecting people to work for their benefits and preparing job-seekers for the job market while simplifying the system. 

Guido was told that while discussing another much trailed “big speech“ in January, the late Maggie told a friend that the problem with modern politicians is that “they think that once they’ve given a speech, something has happened.” That anecdote came to mind this morning…

WATCH: Miliband Dodges Tax Question

He says that Labour will pay tax on their dividends, but that wasn’t the question was it Ed? The key point is that John Mills avoids paying tax himself by giving the money to the party in shares. For some reason Miliband dodged that. No denial that Labour advised Mills on how to donate the money in a tax efficient way either…

The 11 Most Terrifying Words in Miliband Speech

“We are from the government and we are here to help…”

Osborne Rattled? Chancellor Goes on Tax Attack Mid Mili-Speech

As Ed took to the stage the Tories thought they would have some fun with this morning’s Telegraph splash involving John Mills donating in shares rather than cash in order to, allegedly, minimise his tax bill. Osborne has written to the Miliband:

“The Labour Party registered a donation of shares in JML worth £1.65 million in January 2013, from Mr John Mills. By making a donation in shares rather than as a single cash dividend, it has been reported that Mr Mills managed to avoid a potential tax charge of £724,710. Alternatively, it is estimated that to make a donation of £1.65 million in cash Mr Mills would have had to earn £3.1 million, and pay £1.46 million to HM Revenue and Customs.
The tax affairs of individuals are a matter for them and HMRC. My questions are for you and the Labour Party rather than Mr Mills. Can you confirm that the Labour Party advised Mr Mills on how to avoid tax on his donation? As leader of the Labour Party, and given your previous statements on tax avoidance, such actions by your party appear to be directly at odds with your public statements. Most importantly, will you now pass the amount of tax that has been avoided to the Exchequer?”

You can expect the reply to be along the lines of sod off.
And you have to wonder how rattled the Tories are by this welfare shifting speech when they put the Chancellor up to be the attack dog, mid flow…