The true end of local income tax.

We have long had a distinctive position on local taxation, backing neither the existing failed policy of council tax nor the failed policy-in-waiting of local income tax. Since May 2007 there has been no majority for either, just as there is no majority for our preferred land value tax.

When motions have come forward praising local income tax, we've voted them down. When motions have come forward supporting council tax, we've voted them down. When an excellent Tory motion came forward arguing for a broader consideration of the options, we backed it wholeheartedly. Prior to that, Parliament had backed our position, which set a list of conditions for local taxation which local income tax could never have met.

None of this should have been news to the Government. Oddly, though, it appears that they hadn't noticed our position until last month, when it was reiterated to them very clearly. This policy had long since gone off the edge of a cliff, last month Ministers looked down for the first time, and yesterday their plans hit the ground.