Matthew Taylor: Tell the truth before, not after, elections
From a speech by the Lib Dem's Treasury spokesman at 'The Independent's' fringe meeting in Brighton
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The public understand that simple truth – you can't get first-class public services without paying for them. At the last election, Liberal Democrats pledged to raise the money necessary to put right the decades of under-investment in our public services and we said how we would raise that money – we put forward a fully-costed manifesto that included targeted tax rises, such as the pledge of a penny on income tax to pay for a better education system.
If a political party going into an election with the intention of raising taxes wants support after polling day, it has to be honest before polling day. This sets the Liberal Democrats apart from the other political parties. William Hague's Tories could not agree amongst themselves about the level of tax cuts they offered – anywhere between £8bn and £20bn, depending on who you spoke to. And after the election, after saying nothing about tax rises, Labour in government did exactly what the Liberal Democrats said was needed.
Now, with new money coming into the system, we must shift the focus of the debate over public services from investment to delivery – from how the money is raised to how the money is spent. The priority should be giving the money to those on the front line, and giving power to local people for local priorities.
But if further investment becomes necessary to ensure first-class public services, Liberal Democrats will not hesitate to tell the truth on taxation – before the election, not after.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments