Sir Ed Davey today attempted to woo disillusioned One Nation Tories with a pledge to raise the higher-rate income tax threshold from £50,270 to £56,000. The Lib Dem leader also promised to increase the basic-rate threshold from £12,570 to £15,000 and the additional-rate threshold from £125,140 to £130,000. Sir Ed argued that a ‘tax band designed for stockbrokers is now holding back teachers and nurses’. He declared: ‘That’s not fair. It’s not right.’

The proposed changes would, however, take eight years to deliver, coming into force only in the fifth year of the next parliament. The policy is also based on the proviso that Britain rejoins the EU single market and customs union, which Sir Ed insists would boost the economy by £17 billion. In an appeal to One Nation Conservatives who support net zero and remain desperately attached to the failing ECHR, Sir Ed claimed:

Millions of decent, moderate Conservative voters are getting [Badenoch’s] message, and they’re turning away – increasingly, to us. That’s what happens when you talk only to yourselves. You don’t just keep people out. You drive your own people........

© The Spectator