A tax divide widened between David and Ed Miliband today as they took opposing sides on the 50p rate for high earners.
Younger brother Ed declared that the new top rate on those earning £150,000 or more should be made permanent, affecting about 300,000 people.
But frontrunner David said that it should be kept for five years to help to deal with the financial crisis — then reviewed after the next election. The 50p rate was introduced in April as an emergency measure to raise £2.6 billion a year towards reducing the deficit.
The Tories say they will keep it for now but many MPs expect Chancellor George Osborne to promise its abolition just before the election in an attempt to create a dividing line on tax with Labour.
Ed Miliband, the shadow culture secretary, made clear he would fight the election on a clear policy of making the wealthy pay more tax as "a matter of fairness".
