Summary

  • Labour say they would end non-domicile tax status

  • But a video emerges of Ed Balls saying the policy would cost the country money

  • The Tories say the plans are "a shambles"

  • Pupils who fail their Sats tests will have to resit under a future Conservative government

  • There are 29 days until the general election

Live Reporting

Victoria Park, Kristiina Cooper and Rob Corp

  1. #Fakemoustacheguy

    Fake Moustache Guy on STV debateBen Macdonald / Twitter

    Last night’s Scottish TV debate was an engaging affair even without the appearance of a member of the audience with rather intriguing facial hair. Or not, in fact, as viewers slowly realised that #moustacheguy was in fact #fakemoustacheguy. This is the kind of thing that gets social media rather excited, as the Independent reports. The man was later revealed to be Danny Mcafee, a taxi driver from Dundee. He was photographed after the event with his arm around SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.

  2. Sats spat

    Tristram Hunt

    Labour isn’t directly opposing the Conservatives’ announcement that they would force Sats resits on children who fail their English and Maths tests. Instead their response takes a broader view:

    This is a desperate attempt by the Tories to try to overshadow their failures on school standards. On their watch, 1.6 million pupils are being educated in schools that are rated lower than ‘good’ by Ofsted. And as a result of David Cameron's unqualified teachers policy, more than 400,000 pupils are being taught by unqualified teachers. Labour has a better plan for education. We will ensure that every teacher is qualified or working towards qualified teacher status and introduce a new Master Teacher status to raise the standing of the profession. That is how we improve education for every child, in every classroom.

    Tristram Hunt, shadow education secretary

  3. Faisal Islam, Sky News political editor

    @faisalislam

    tweets:

    ... Basically I don't think you can "score" this nondom policy, simply because its impossible to know global income. Tax advisers might know"

  4. A bit more background

    To qualify as a non-dom, either you, or your father or grandfather, must have been born overseas. You must also be able to demonstrate that country is your home - even if you never actually spend any time there. So that might mean owning a property there or even just a burial plot. As the Guardian points out, you don't need to pay any tax at all in that country and can spend as much time as you like in the UK.

  5. 'The wrong reasons'

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Lord PaulAP

    Lord Paul, a Labour peer who gave up his non-dom status in 2010, tells the Today programme he’s “glad” that Ed Miliband is proposing to change the rules. “It was becoming a political thing to collect money for the elections,” he claims. And then he suggests that those choosing to be non-doms do so "for the wrong reasons". He adds: "What we must do is make sure the corruption doesn't increase." Lord Paul is suggesting there's a link between politicians' approach to the non-dom charge and political donations.

  6. Non-doms

    Robert Peston
    Business editor

    Nobody seriously disagrees that the UK has much more benign rules for these sorts of people than other developed economies. We are a much softer touch for these sorts of people than, say, America.

  7. Ed Balls, shadow chancellor

    @edballsmp

    tweets:

    He's really opposing this? RT @BBCNormanS Chancellor warns scrapping "non dom" tax status cd cost 00s of millions in jobs and investment"

  8. Non-doms: The background

    Alistair Darling BudgetPA

    Today sees the return of an issue that played a big part in British politics in the run-up to the 2010 election: the question of what to do with those living here who don’t pay tax on earnings made outside the UK. In their autumn 2007 conference, the Conservatives pledged to introduce a £25,000 levy on all non-domiciled foreigners. Labour’s then chancellor, Alistair Darling, followed swiftly with his own proposal which was introduced in the 2008 Budget (pictured above). But the issue remained controversial as Labour attacked the Tories’ donor Lord Ashcroft for his non-dom tax status. Lord Ashcroft, whoadmitted being a non-dom in March 2010,gave up the tax statuslater that year in order to stay in the Lords. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 required peers and MPs to be tax resident and domiciled in order to remain in Parliament.

  9. Jason Beattie, political editor, Daily Mirror

    @JBeattieMirror

    tweets:

    Understand why Tories and Lib Dems use "Labour did nothing in 13 years to deal with this" line. But doesn't help case for redemption"

  10. Patrick Wintour, political editor, the Guardian

    @patrickwintour

    tweets:

    Labour argues key issue for Conservatives - does it defend Nom Dom rule in principle ps labour needs cash to fund some of tuition fee pledge"

  11. Non-doms details

    In the light of the Conservatives' claim that Labour won't actually be scrapping the non-domicile tax rules altogether, here's the details provided by Labour this morning. The key point for the Conservatives is number two - that temporary residents will still be subject to different rules from ordinary UK citizens.

    • Labour will abolish the non-dom loophole so that everyone who comes to the UK and makes the UK their permanent home pays tax in the same way from April 2016.
    • There will be new rules for temporary residents introduced so that only those in the UK for a short period - for example to study or through their work - would be just taxed on income and gains in the UK.
    • The next government will consult on the length of time for which the new rules for temporary residents should apply and on the transition period over which existing non-doms will come within them.
    • The additional tax revenue, estimated to be hundreds of millions of pounds, will be part of Labour’s fair and balanced plan to reduce the deficit.

  12. Beth Rigby, deputy political editor, Financial Times

    @BethRigby

    tweets this vivid description:

    "Like a chocolate truffle wrapped in gold leaf, non-dom status is nice to have, hard to justify"

  13. Higher non-dom charges?

    Danny AlexanderPA

    The Liberal Democrats are turning their fire on Labour over their non-doms policy, accusing them of allowing non-domicile numbers to increase dramatically under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. "We came down hard on those who stayed in the UK for long periods without paying their share - increasing charges on non-doms year-on-year since 2010,” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander says. “Labour used to allow non-doms to sit in the House of Lords, Lib Dems stopped that.” Mr Alexander says he wants to “radically” change the rules in the next parliament by increasing the charges further, bringing in another £130 million to the Treasury’s coffers.

  14. Explaining the small print

    BBC Radio 4 Today

    Ed Balls is questioned about the aforementioned small print of his party's non-doms policy on the Today programme. He says under Labour's plans there won’t be any new non-doms permitted at all, and that a “short period for existing non-doms to get their affairs sorted out” of five years will be allowed. Then there’s a “temporary period” which will permit non-doms to continue receiving tax relief. Mr Balls says five years is too long for this - he’s thinking “more the length of a normal post-grad or normal university degree, two to three years”.

  15. Non-doms 'small print'

    George Osborne with a magnifying glassGetty

    The Conservatives have released comments from George Osborne. The chancellor is claiming the “small print” of Labour’s policy means they aren’t actually scrapping non-dom status at all.

    “Either they are going to abolish non-dom status altogether which would cost our country hundreds of millions of pounds in lost tax revenues and lost investment - the reason they did nothing on this during 13 years in office - or they are just tinkering around the edges and making small adjustments to the rules on how long people can be non-dom."

    Mr Osborne says the government will raise £5bn a year in the next parliament by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion - “including abuses of the non-dom rules”.

  16. The defining 24%

    David Cowling, BBC political research editor, sizes up the state of the polls:

    The Easter weekend broke whatever campaign tempo there was and nothing seems to have altered the political landscape so far. In the 15 campaign polls I have recorded, the average total of those intending to vote but not for Conservative, Labour or the Lib Dems amounts to 24% - about double the percentage who voted that way in the 2010 general election. This 24% represent the defining feature of the run-up to this election and the first stage of the campaign as well. Much of it may dissolve in polling stations on 7 May but there is little evidence of that happening so far."

  17. Carrie Symonds, Conservative Party adviser

    @carrieapples

    tweets:

    The small print of Labour’s policy makes clear that they are not actually abolishing non-dom status."

  18. Sizing up Sturgeon's 'offer'

    BBC Breakfast

    Ed Balls

    We’re not going to go into some kind of coalition with a party which wants to break up the United Kingdom, that would be ridiculous. If you want to get the Tories out you need to vote Labour… I think this is game-playing from Nicola Sturgeon.

    Ed Balls, shadow chancellor

  19. £30bn cuts?

    BBC Breakfast

    Jim Murphy and Nicola SturgeonGetty

    Last night’s Scottish leaders’ debate saw Nicola Sturgeon attack Jim Murphy for proposing cuts of up to £30bn in the coming years. Mr Murphy said that number was “misleading” and Ed Balls, speaking this morning, reiterates his party’s rejection of the number. He says spending on the NHS, education and international development will be protected. Labour won’t “sign up” to the Tories’ plan for “deep” cuts over the next five years, he tells BBC Breakfast. But the shadow chancellor adds: “In unprotected areas, there will be some sensible spending cuts as part of a balanced plan to get the deficit down.”

  20. 'Ridiculous'

    BBC Breakfast

    The New Labour government introduced charges on non-doms in 2008, but now Ed Balls wants to go much further and scrap their tax status entirely. “What we’ve learned since 2008,” he says from Leeds, is that the rules are “unfair and a bit ridiculous”. He says people can prove they’re a non-dom by demonstrating they’ve got a burial plot in another part of the world. “Why should you have a different set of rules which reduces the tax bill for a small number of people who are very wealthy? It’s not fair and it’s costing us millions.”