Ed Miliband A Tax Expert ?

What can we say about Ed Miliband the new Labour leader and his view that the VAT increase from 17.5% to 20% is the wrong tax at the wrong time?

Could it be that Miliband is in fact the wrong leader at the wrong moment in history?

Before we consider that question we need to ask the key question what experience does Ed Milliband have to be able to make such a critical statement.?

What better policy or policies does he have to offer. What can he really bring to the country.?

Mr Milliband is critical of the coalition for "going to far and to fast" in reducing public spending and increasing indirect taxes. Yet his very own Labour Chancellor Allistair Darling had not ruled out the possibilty of changes to the rate of VAT when Gordon Brown was Prime Minister.

I believe that Mr Ed Milliband has to accept some basic home truths before he can criticise the coalition.

Firstly he needs to appreciate that it was his own Government who have brought such an economic disaster to Great Britain. I am sure we can all remember those amazing words of the last Labour Prime Minister when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer when he used to say on each budget day "no more boom or bust" and then he allowed such a boom and such a bust that has not been seen in the UK since the Great depression.

The previous Prime Minister Gordon Brown has to be remembered for many poor decisions and one of which was to sell 400 Metric Tons of the British Gold reserves at the lowest price for more than 20 years. The sale was inept to say the least. It was announced to the markets their intention to make the sale and in so doing undoubtedly substantially reduced the price that could have been obtained in the future as the intended impending sale over hung the market.

It would undoubtedly have been much better from a marketing angle to sell into a rising market.

The price obtained was less than US$ 300 an oz currently the price of gold in January 2011 is over US$ 1,400 a gain of some 400% or to the British Treasury a very substantial loss. Who was one of the key advisers to Gordon Brown during this time and sent various memos to the Bank of England asking for their support and blessing (which was not forthcoming) it was of course the new leader of the Labour Party.

The previous Labour Government have brought Great Britain to a severe economic deficit substantially of their own making or failure in financial supervision it is the same as it was on there watch that it all went wrong.

So Miliband has no claims to being an economic guru nor does he offer any policies but has the nerve to debate about the coalition policies.

We know that his judgement is a touch less than cautious as the last MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth Phil Woolas was appointed a shadow minister by Ed Milliband but then he lost the seat for smearing his Liberal Democrat opponent Elwyn Watkins during the general election.