The Liberal Democrats are coming out all guns blazing on a local income tax, perhaps hoping to undo any damage done by Charles Kennedy's opening salvo of the campaign, where – shortly after the birth of his baby son – he appeared not to know how much the replacement for the council tax would raise, and how much a couple would have to earn before being worse off under its replacement.
Today the campaign posters boldly declare it would "save typical households £450 a year", while party aides distribute the 30-page form to illustrate how complex exemptions to the current council tax are. The Conservatives have today apparently announced they will scrap the forthcoming revaluation of property bands, to save mostly middle income households, and so the Lib Dems have also produced a list of "Tory U-turns", where prominent Tories expressed their backing for the revaluation.
Lord Razzall boasts that a new poll for the New Musical Express puts the Lib Dems far in the lead among 18-24 year olds, with young adults associating Charles Kennedy with the band Keane (Michael Howard got The Darkness, and Tony Blair Oasis.)
"This is the most unpopular tax in the land – based on property, not ability to pay," begins Mr Kennedy.
7.45am: "It's not a leap in the dark. Local income tax is used all across the world, from Germany to the United States. Our opponents at this election have no alternative to the council tax on offer." He calls the Tories' move "naked opportunism".
Ed Davey, the Lib Dems' local authority spokesman, says that for the first time, according to a new study, people are more worried about their council tax bill than their mortgages. He goes on to claim it would "revitalise local democracy" because the burden of paying would be spread more widely across individuals, rather than by households- and Mr Kennedy pops into say the "concomitant" of local income tax is voting reform for local authorities.
The BBC's Andrew Marr wants to know if this policy is such a priority for the Lib Dems that it would form some sort of bargain with Labour if the arithmetic of the next parliament led to a pact between the two parties. You've got a good point, we would be "pushing it" says Mr Kennedy – "This is a serious runner, despite the disparagement [from Labour] at the moment."
8am: Mr Davey is proving very combative this morning, telling both Andrew Marr and Sky's Adam Boulton they are "completely wrong" and "plain wrong" respectively. He goes on to explain that second-home owners will pay a reformed local business rate on the second property.
8.15am: The BBC wants to know how much worse off on average the 25% of people who the Lib Dems admit will pay more, will be. You'll have to ask the Institute for Fiscal Studies, who provided those figures, says Mr Davey, and on that unanswered question the press conference is wrapped up.
There's been some seemingly deliberate schedule-clashing of this morning's Tory and Labour press conferences, but the latest timings are 9.15am for Labour and 9.45 for the Tories. Bearing in mind it can take 10 minutes to get through security, some hacks are going to have to leave Labour early … very early!
