‘I STAND by what I said in the House of Commons, that Lord Fink was engaged in tax avoidance,’ Labour leader Miliband said during a speech given at his old school, Haverstock in North London yesterday.
Lord Fink, ex-treasurer of the Tory party, had challenged Miliband to dare to repeat his accusation outside the House of Commons that he had undertaken tax avoidance activities with HSBC in Switzerland.
Miliband added: ‘Now he (Fink) confirms it as well. He has just said, “I didn’t object to his use of the word tax avoidance, because you’re right, tax avoidance … everyone does it”.
‘Now David Cameron must explain why he appointed a treasurer of the Conservative Party who boasts about engaging in tax avoidance and thinks that it is something everyone does.’
In the question and answer session at the end of the speech, Miliband was asked by the BBC: ‘You say that you are repeating what you said in the House of Commons about Lord Fink, the former Tory treasurer. I note that you only repeated one part of it.
‘In the next sentence, after talking about tax avoidance, you referred to dodgy Tory donors. Are you saying that Lord Fink is dodgy?’
Miliband answered: ‘Lord Fink yesterday was threatening to sue me, because I said that he was engaging in tax avoidance and there was much outrage from the Conservative Party.
‘I think that this is a defining moment in David Cameron’s leadership of the Conservative Party because it has now been revealed that he appointed a treasurer who says that everyone engages in tax avoidance.’
During the heated debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Miliband said to Cameron: ‘You took the money, you gave a job to the head of HSBC and you let the tax avoiders get away with it.
‘There’s something rotten at the heart of the Conservative Party and it’s you.’
During his speech, Miliband outlined Labour’s plans for education. So many teachers I met recognise the contrast with the Gove era.
‘His contempt for the profession, his disdain for teachers who he actually called “the enemies of promise”.
‘His sneering disrespect for educators in general who, to remind you, he called “the blob”.
‘And his apparent belief that a war on teachers would improve education. Friends, it has failed. 50,000 experienced qualified teachers have left the profession in this year alone.’
He pledged that Labour would not force all schools to become academies. He went on to promise a cap on class sizes of 30 pupils.
He also reiterated the Labour pledge to reduce the voting age to 16.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers welcomed Miliband’s announcement that the funds currently set aside for Free Schools will be reallocated to address the primary school places crisis.
‘Beyond that, however, there is a real need to tackle class size. NUT policy is for class sizes of 20, which exist in the independent sector and should be the right of all children in publicly funded schools. In the long term, Labour should commit to reducing class size across the board.
‘We welcome the fact that Ed Miliband made this speech in a comprehensive school.’
She added: ‘The NUT welcomes the focus Ed Miliband is putting on keeping teachers in the profession.’
