John Mills · @John_Mills_JML
1st Feb 2015 from TwitLonger
Mischief-making by the Mail on Sunday
This is pure mischief making.
I was rung by a reporter from the Daily Mail and I did my damndest to be as supportive as possible and to avoid saying anything which could be damaging for Labour. I have always supported heavier taxes on high value properties, and I told the reporter this, although it is true that I have gone on record to say that I think that widening the council tax bands is a better way of doing it than having a mansion tax. I also have said that there are problems about hypothecating something like a mansion tax for the NHS rather than using money raised locally for local purposes – particularly building more housing. As regards the NHS, my view is one of considerable sympathy with both Alan Milburn and Andy Burnham. Clearly the NHS both needs more money and to consider every reasonable way of improving efficiency. This is what I told the Mail reporter.
I am well aware of the vulnerableness of my position to being used to provide highly selective and misleading quotes like the one in the Mail on Sunday this morning but unfortunately there is a limit to the extent to which this sort of thing can be avoided, however hard I try.
The article is online here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2934698/Labour-knives-loser-Red-Ed-Election-panic-grips-party-big-guns-turn-haunted-Miliband.html