"If the answer is new taxes we’re asking the wrong question…half-baked proposals…telling people we are taking away their plasma TVs and charging them to park at the supermarket..."Who’s leading the attack on the latest Conservative proposals?
Step forward Conservative MEP for the East Midlands, Roger Helmer who ridiculed the plans announced earlier today. Interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Roger Helmer said most Conservatives he’s spoken to were horrified at the plans which have been largely endorsed by David Cameron.
UPDATE:
From today's Daily Mail:
Their document may have many virtues, but these will be obliterated by one much leaked notion that shoppers at supermarkets and DIY stores might have to pay parking charges under a Tory administration.The article goes on to say the idea is "dumb politics".
The thinking, which most of us would probably endorse, is to encourage shoppers to use High Street shops, some of which are threatened by the supermarkets.
The trouble is that this suggestion would penalise ordinary families who have little or no choice but to use supermarkets.
Many of these people are struggling to make ends meet, and the last thing they want is to have to pay for parking on top of everything else.
Isn't it ludicrous that Mr Goldsmith, who inherited a vast fortune from his billionaire adventurer father and who has probably seldom ever been to a supermarket, should conceive of a poll tax on ordinary people who have to shop?
