Why the Silence on Millipedes wealth ?

[youngmafbog]

http://www.thesun.co....PM-David-Cameron.html

A SENIOR Labour figure yesterday refused to deny that party leader Ed Miliband was a millionaire.

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander dodged questions about Mr Miliband’s personal wealth.

More Socialist double standards ?

[sandyRoe]

You wouldn't think a Left-Wing lecturer could make enough to leave a fortune to his sons.
Perhaps they aren't as rich as the Sun would like us to believe.

[ichkeria]

The Milibands' mother's family was very well off in pre-war Poland.

[ichkeria]

The Sun article as quoted doesn't really allege anything. It's just a non-story about a Labour minister, not unreasonably, refusing to pronounce on the financial assets of a colleague in much the same way that doubtless, and not unreasonably, someone like William Hague would be reluctant to make pat statements about the financial assets of his own party leader.

[sandyRoe]

A 'When did you stop beating your wife?' type of question. How low can the right-wing press go?

[emmie]

Sandyr no one can live in a million pound house with all the costs involved, if they are not very well off, that is of course the reports are true.

[emmie]

same goes for any number of Labour politicians one of whom still lives in a council flat, but has other property i believe.

[Gromit]

The Millipedes inherited property 18 years and the property inflation which we 'enjoyed' in the noughties means that they tripled their money like a lot of us have done over the last 15 years.

It is known what property they own and its value so it is bogus to pretend the figure is unknown and Ed will not reveal it.

[emmie]

he has done as far as i know, but they are well off compared to most people.

[emmie]

Gromit, so you are a speculator, made money off property prices going through the roof, well i never.

[BayBoy1]

Behind every great fortune is a great crime.? what crime did the eton posh boys commit then???

[LazyGun]

Viertually all homeowners who were able to purchase their properties before the 80s could be accused of being property speculators, since property inflation especially in London has been in the thousands of percent.

It is my understanding that the Millibands could be considered millionaires if you include the market value of their properties. Where this is particularly important is in the recent soundbite attack from Labour on Tory tax policies - lowering the 50p rate. The 2 Eds came out with the line that this was Osbourne and Cameron writing a check for £40,000 to each millionaire - but this is not true. It is only true of those people whose annual income is a million pounds or more.

I believe I have heard that Ed Milliband has declared that his earnings are not sufficiently large that he would qualify for the top rate of tax.

[ichkeria]

Some mistake surely? I think Ed Miliband definitely qualifies for the higher rate of tax by a considerable margin. Which makes his opposition to abolishing it more not less honourable surely?

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

MP is wealthy. Hold the front page!

[LazyGun]

@ichkeria - Didn't say it was a definitive memory, ich :)

If his income is solely his MP salary, then he would not qualify for that highest rate of tax, which is levied on those earnings over £150,000 pa - or do I have that wrong?

[237SJ]

I think Mr Miliband`s wealth is nobody else`s business. His ability to do his job has no bearing on how much money he has. He is obviously asset-rich if his property is worth £2m but he lives in outer London. Here (in SW London) it wouldn`t be out of the ordinary to live in a house of that value. A £130,000 pa salary isn`t exactly sky-high either. That`s on a par with a senior airline captain. The Sun is just muck-flinging.

[ichkeria]

Sorry Lazygun I believe you are right. I blame temporary mental bemusement after hearing George Osborne claim in his speech that he does not wish to 'demonise' any faction of society. This would be the same George Osborne who was doing a pretty good job of doing just that to benefit claimants in a TV interview a few hours earlier.
But I digress ...