The way the Tories have dealt with Labour’s non-dom announcement shows why the election is still up for grabs

In an election, a sort of “fog of war” can often descend. A day in an election is boiled down to who is perceived to have won a particular day or a specific skirmish. Often that’s an entirely legitimate way of looking at things – but it’s rarely how events are seen by the public.

Today has proved a classic example – overnight Labour launched a plan to abolish non-dom status. The very existence of non-dom status should offend all but the most ideologically committed anti-taxer. It’s a 200 year old anomaly that allows the wealthy to bypass the same tax laws that apply to the rest of us, even if they’re permanent residents in the UK. Even if they’re permanent UK residents who are also British citizens. It’s a means of bypassing the same rules that apply to the rest of us. It’s a way for those who wish to take advantage of it to bypass the social contract that applies to the rest of us – that by paying in what we can afford we all reap the “common good” benefits that our society provides.

Non-dom status should be something on which there can be consensus across the political spectrum – because it’s self-evidently an aberration, an anomaly unique to this country which should frankly have been dealt with by now.

Instead though, the Tories have decided to launch a muddled and nakedly partisan attack on Miliband’s plans. It took them a while to work out what line of attack they were going to use – which suggests that their opposition was reflexive rather than considered. They couldn’t work out whether this was bad for the economy, wouldn’t really make a difference or didn’t add up. Truly, when your attack lines are that either something is very bad or won’t make a difference, you’re not really nailing this rebbuttal thing.

But eventually the Tories were handed a lifeline. They dredged up a video from only a few months ago in which Ed Balls says:

“I think that it is important that you make sure the non-dom rules work in a fair way. I think they were too lax in the past. Both the last Labour government and this Conservative government have tightened them up. That is something I will continue to look at. I think if you abolish the whole status then probably it ends up costing Britain money because there will be some people who will then leave the country.”

Although they were guilty of editing the video (and lying to me about doing so), as they chopped the final sentence from Balls, which said:

“I think we can be tougher and we should be and we will”

Now for what it’s worth, I still think Balls needs to explain why he warned against abolishing the status back in January, when Labour is saying that Labour will abolish the status today. Balls may argue that what’s proposed (a sensible solution that allows those who live in the UK temporarily some flexibility) is short of abolition, but that’s not quite what Ed Miliband said earlier.

But the Tory strategy on this has been enormously self-defeating.

In their determination to trash Labour – and especially Balls, who the Tory leadership have an obsession with – the Tories have ended up prolonging the lifespan of the story, and placing themselves repeatedly on the side of the wealthy non-doms and against the public who want everyone to play by the same rules. You’d have thought by now that the Tories would have learned how toxic the label “party of the rich” is. But today they have gone to real lengths to ensure that “party of the tax avoiders” could stick too.

When people look back at the election campaign today, what they’ll rememeber (if anything) was Miliband’s plan to crack down on tax avoiding non-doms – and that the Tories opposed this. (Ok, they may also remember the absolutely bizarre Green Party PPB too).

And yet the Tories didn’t have to drive thsmelves into this political cul-de-sac. There are members of their own party who have spoken out against exactly the kind of venal, greedy behaviour that Labour is trying to move against. Here’s a passionate speech that Tory MP Richard Bacon made about non-doms recently:

If the Tory Party spoke like this about tax avoidance, paying your fair share, contributing to society and the rich trying to avoid their responsibilities, then Labour might be in real trouble. But they don’t. They take every opportunity to side with the wealthy and the priviledged – whilst attacking those at the bottom. They play parlour games with videos. They oppose a sensible plan because they don’t believe, to their core, in that idea of paying your way – and investing in the common good.

Which is one reason why this election is still up for grabs.