Miliband promises return of back 10 pence tax rate

In an audacious bid to outflank Prime Minister David Cameron on the economy the Labour leader insisted that reintroducing the band would make society fairer.

The PM had ridiculed Mr Miliband during PMQs on Wednesday predicting that his speech in Bedford "won't have any policy in it."

Mr Miliband said the 10p rate could be funded by a new "mansion tax" on homes worth more than £2 million.

"This would benefit 25 million basic rate taxpayers, moving Labour on from the past and putting Labour where it should always have been, on the side of working people," he said.

Unions have thrown their weight behind the plans with Unite general secretary Len McCluskey saying: "Ed has shown that his heart is in the right place defending working people."

And Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "I am sure that this kind of policy will chime with people who have been aghast at this Tory-led coalition's tax hand-outs to millionaires and tax credit cuts to millions.

"These tax plans would form a welcome step towards the fairer society that we all want to see."

Mr McCluskey said the Labour leader is breaking free from the failed neoliberal project embraced by both the Conservatives and new Labour.

But he urged Mr Miliband to go even further by announcing an extra £1 on the minimum wage, similar to President Barack Obama's call across the Atlantic.