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Myleene Klass tax jibe raised in Ed Miliband v David Cameron clash | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
David Cameron claimed at PM's questions that Ed Miliband had been "pasted by a pop star" after singer Myleene Klass's criticism of Labour's mansion tax. | |
The Hear'Say star claimed the tax would hit "little grannies" in modest London homes rather than the super-rich. | The Hear'Say star claimed the tax would hit "little grannies" in modest London homes rather than the super-rich. |
But the Labour leader insists the tax on homes worth £2m or more would help fund more NHS doctors and nurses. | |
Accusing the PM of failing the NHS, he said: "If you've got big money you've got a friend in this prime minister." | |
He added: "If you haven't - you couldn't care less." | |
The clash came just two days after Ms Klass attacked Mr Miliband on ITV's The Agenda for proposing a tax that conjured up thoughts of "Barbie-esque houses", when really the homes she claimed it would affect were often "like a garage". | |
Six-point plan | |
"When you do look at the people who are going to be suffering this tax, it's true a lot of them are grannies who have had these houses in their families for a long, long time," she said. | "When you do look at the people who are going to be suffering this tax, it's true a lot of them are grannies who have had these houses in their families for a long, long time," she said. |
"The people who are the super-super-rich who are buying their houses for £140m, this is not necessarily going to affect them because they've got their tax rebates and their amazing accountants. | "The people who are the super-super-rich who are buying their houses for £140m, this is not necessarily going to affect them because they've got their tax rebates and their amazing accountants. |
"It's going to be the little grannies that have lived in those houses for years and years." | "It's going to be the little grannies that have lived in those houses for years and years." |
This prompted Mr Miliband to outline a six-point response on Twitter, using a play on Hear'Say's biggest hit: "Here's why our NHS needs a mansion tax. It's Pure and Simple." | |
The Labour leader returned to the subject during a rowdy PM's question time by asking Mr Cameron why he backed a bedroom tax, but was against a mansion tax. | |
The PM said a spare room subsidy was not available in the private sector, so should not be available in public sector accommodation. | |
No 'Klass-act' | |
This prompted Mr Miliband to ask if the PM believed a person living in a £140m Hyde Park penthouse should pay the same property tax as others. | |
Mr Cameron argued that his government had taken measures to address the differential, by putting up stamp duty and charging foreigners who invest, adding: "What you've had in the last week is a pasting from a pop star." | |
Mr Miliband hit back: "That's exactly what I expect from this prime minister - you only feel the pain of people struggling to find a £2m garage. | |
"We need a mansion tax because the NHS is going backwards on your watch." | |
The PM taunted Labour MPs by quipping: "They are certainly not seeing a Klass-act opposite." | |
He said there were more nurses and doctors under his government and accused Labour of missing NHS targets in Wales. | |
"This was the week when Myleene Klass wiped the floor with you on TV and this is the week when a poll in Scotland showed more people believe in the Loch Ness monster than in your leadership. The only problem for the Labour Party is you actually exist." | |
Earlier, Mr Miliband told his 358,000 followers on Twitter that the mansion tax would contribute £1.2bn towards Labour's goal of raising £2.5bn a year for the NHS to help pay for thousands more doctors, nurses, midwives and homecare workers. | |
It would also "guarantee that patients in England will wait no longer than one week for cancer tests and results by 2020", he said. | It would also "guarantee that patients in England will wait no longer than one week for cancer tests and results by 2020", he said. |
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he backed the plan, adding that treating higher value properties in the same banded way as lower value ones was a policy the Liberal Democrats "had advocated for a long time". | |
UKIP are opposed to the idea, describing it as an attack on aspiration. | |
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