Leader: Coalition must stick to its current tax strategy

The battle over taxes has well and truly been joined, with Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander yesterday describing calls for the abolition of the 50p top rate as coming from "cloud cuckoo land", that mythical territory from which politicians maintain bad ideas emanate.

We should be clear, however, that this land is not occupied by some wild-eyed, rabid right-wingers from the fringes of the Tory party, but by the likes of former Conservative Chancellor Norman Lamont and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who is said to be positioning himself to replace David Cameron.

Now there may be those, including most Liberal Democrats and even some moderate Conservatives, who put Mr Johnson in the wild-eyed Tory category. But there is no doubt he and Lord Lamont speak for a significant body of opinion within their party, and one which cannot be lightly dismissed.

The counter-argument, which Mr Alexander made yesterday, is that the coalition has agreed that any tax cuts should go to those on lower and middle incomes, a reasonable proposition. What he did not say was losing the 2.4 billion the top rate brings in would be a set-back to the deficit reduction plans.

Cutting the top rate would not just help those on high incomes, but also be a signal of lower taxation intent for all tax-payers. However, on balance, the coalition's current course of siding with the majority of "middle Britain" is good politics, and sadly necessary in terms of getting a grip on the UK's finances.