Lib Dems say Budget must make sure rich pay more

Simon Hughes said individual tax rates were not a “central aspect” of tomorrow’s Budget for Lib Dems as long as the richest end up paying more overall.

It comes amid days of intense speculation that Chancellor George Osborne will cut the levy to 45p next year and abolish the top rate completely by the time of the next election.

Mr Hughes said the party’s manifesto committed them to lifting people out of tax at the bottom by closing loopholes at the top.

“We didn’t say hanging on to 50p tax rates or having a top tax rate at anything else, we made it very clear that the wealthy have to pay more,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme.

He added: “The 50 pence tax rate brings in a relatively small amount of money. My test on Wednesday afternoon when the Chancellor sits down will be whether the people on high incomes are paying more or paying less to help us out of the economic mess from the Labour Party.”

He added: “The whole priority is to make sure we have a Budget for the millions not the millionaires. A particular tax rate which affects one in 100 people who pay tax in Britain is not, therefore, for us a central aspect for the Budget.”

Earlier, Labour leader Ed Miliband accused the Government of being more interested in cutting taxes for the rich.

He said: “We would be concentrating on jobs and growth and we would be using every penny of scarce resources in order to help millions of hard-pressed families.”

Union leaders warned that cutting the 50p rate, which applies only to those who earn more than £150,000 a year, could spark fresh riots. RMT general secretary Bob Crow suggested that tax concessions for the richest would provoke the disaffected to “lash out”.