Labour leader joins criticism of chancellor, who left junior minister Chloe Smith to defend policy change on Newsnight
Ed Miliband has accused George Osborne of "hiding away" over the decision to axe a planned 3p hike in fuel duty – as it emerged that he was dining with Tory MPs in Downing Street last night as his junior minister Chloe Smith was struggling on live TV to explain the move.
The Labour leader told David Cameron during prime minister's questions that the latest budget U-turn, announced on Tuesday, was a sign of government "panic at the pumps" and an acknowledgment that its economic plan was failing.
After reciting Cameron's insistence two months ago that he would defend every part of the budget and that he had worked on it line by line, Miliband asked: "What went wrong?"
Downing Street indicated earlier on Wednesday that government ministers were not told in advance of the chancellor's £550m decision to suspend the 3p hike in fuel duty – prompting Miliband to ask Cameron why he had forgotten to tell them.
The Labour leader seized on the chancellor's decision to leave Smith, the economic secretary to the Treasury, to defend the policy on BBC2's Newsnight in what was widely judged to have been a disaster. The interview culminated in Paxman asking her: "Do you ever think you are incompetent?"
At the time, Osborne was dining with Tory MPs at 11 Downing Street, an aide to the chancellor has confirmed.
The chancellor's decision to send Smith to defend the policy shift instead of appearing in person provoked the serial Tory rebel Nadine Dorries, to brand the chancellor a coward.
In a series of messages on Twitter, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire said: "If Osborne sent Chloe on re scrapping 3p he is a coward as well as arrogant.
"Newsnight last night would have been a tough gig for a minister with years of experience – Chloe is a good egg and didn't deserve that.
"The request for Newsnight should have been refused or given a pre-recorded interview. Paxman was doing his job, Osborne wasn't."
Under questioning from Miliband in the Commons, Cameron said that the decision to freeze fuel duty was not a government U-turn since it was one of six increases in fuel duty left by Labour. "It cannot be a U-turn to get rid of a Labour tax increase," said Cameron.
But pointing to the fact that the announcement came just a day after the transport secretary, Justine Greening, publicly defended the fuel duty rise as an important part of the government's deficit reduction strategy, Miliband said: "So it was all part of a seamless political strategy?"
Miliband said it was "no wonder" Dorries had called Osborne a coward.
"The chancellor hid away yesterday, refusing to defend the decision," he said. "The chancellor yesterday sent out the economic secretary to do interviews on this issue."
The prime minister defended Osborne, saying: "The chancellor was announcing this tax reduction from the dispatch box … He was actually here making the announcement and I have to say completely wrong-footing the shadow chancellor."
Miliband said stopping the 3p increase planned for August was proof that "plan A was not working".
Miliband there had been six budget U-turns to date but not on the "tax cut for millionaires paid for by the tax rise for pensioners".
He asked: "You say you have been listening to the electorate. What feedback have you had on those particular proposals?"
Cameron said: "I think it is wrong to have a top rate of tax that is higher than France, higher than Germany, higher than Italy."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jun/27/fuel-duty-miliband-osborne-hiding-away
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