Campaign kick-off: 29 days to go

Finally, we have a policy to debate. Ed Miliband has set the agenda for the campaign today with a pledge that Labour would scrap the ‘non-dom’ tax status. After weeks of personal attacks, Miliband has shaken things up a little — but is the announcement already falling apart? To help guide you through the melée of stories and spin, here is a summary of today’s main stories.

1. No more non-doms

In a speech at Warwick University today, Ed Miliband will say ‘there are now 116,000 non-doms, costing hundreds of millions of pounds to our country, it can no longer be justified.’ In short, having non-dom tax status is a way for very wealthy people to avoid paying tax. Clamping down on this sort of thing is red meat for Labour’s core base. It’s a punchy announcement, one that has impressed businessman Duncan Bannatyne, but Labour has yet to offer any details on the financials. What are the tax revenue implications for scrapping non-dom status? It’s easy to see why Labour has done it for political reasons but Miliband and Balls risk looking financially inept if they can’t offer any details on the numbers.