An important lesson

The MLP has finally seen the light and accepted to keep VAT. But, as others have said before me, this change of heart should not earn the party our gratitude. On the contrary.

In 1996, the MLP stood for the election on an anti-VAT ticket. The removal of the tax was the centerpiece of the party's electoral programme. Many were duped into thinking that just because until 1995 we had managed without VAT (but with punitive Customs duties in place) Labour could restore the previous state of affairs. And Labour's big gamble, of VAT being unfair and unnecessary, paid off.

It was just months after the general election of 1996 that Labour started talking not of the removal of VAT but of the replacement of VAT. This was a fundamental change in the party's electoral platform.

Any democratic party which is unable to fulfil such a fundamental pledge would have called a fresh election. But not the MLP. It went on to replace a tax with a proven track record with one that served only to confuse people. No wonder that only a paltry four per cent of Chamber of Commerce members recently said that they preferred CET to VAT.

The MLP's pledge to remove VAT, the introduction of CET and its deliberate postponing of taking a decision on VAT-II cost this country dearly.

Political expediency now dictated that Labour embrace the tax. And the party, very conveniently, made a U-turn.

Not only were no apologies offered for the eight years of uncertainty, they are still actually insisting that VAT has many shortcomings and that it will stay in place for no other reason than that it would be unwise to change the tax system again - a concern Labour did not have in 1997.

The VAT saga should be an important lesson to us all. That, as the Labour leader once said, the MLP is ready to enter into the proverbial pact with the devil in order to win votes and eventually win the election. Ultimately, it is the whole country that loses.