This morning, there was much Westminster chatter about whether Ed Miliband would repeat his accusation made at PMQs yesterday about the ‘tax avoidance activities of Lord Fink’. But shortly before Miliband spoke, Fink himself gave an interview to The Standard in which he said, ‘I didn’t object to his use of the word “tax avoidance”. Because you are right: tax avoidance, everyone does it.’ Instead, Fink claimed that his objection was to the implication that he was one of the ‘dodgy donors’ that Miliband was talking about. Now, Fink’s letter of complaint to Miliband yesterday didn’t mention the word ‘dodgy’.
After his speech today, Miliband tellingly refused to call Fink ‘dodgy’. He did, though, talk about Fink and tax avoidance at some length in the speech itself.
I wonder, though, if it was wise for Miliband to go as far as he did on tax avoidance. He has now set the bar higher than just legality for the tax affairs of the shadow Cabinet, Labour MPs and the party’s donors.
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