Blair tax spin 'misleading'

William Hague condemns government "spin"

A European Commission spokesman has branded the government's "spin" on a cross-border tax row as "grossly misleading", says Tory Leader William Hague.

Mr Hague dismissed the prime minister's victory in defeating the withholding tax plan, saying it was something the government could have stopped at the very beginning.

He finally got the foreign secretary and the chancellor to talk to each other

William Hague

At a two-day summit in Portugal this week, EU leaders agreed not to impose the tax after a long campaign waged against it by the UK.

Instead, most member nations will concentrate on exchanges of information to tackle cross-border tax evasion.

Tony Blair hailed the deal as a triumph and said it showed Britain was no longer isolated.

But, after Mr Blair gave a statement on the summit to MPs, Mr Hague said: "A commission spokesman said of the government's comments that its relentless spin is 'grossly misleading' - what a surprise."

'Cabinet splits' taunt

And he taunted the prime minister: "May I congratulate him on one particular diplomatic triumph - after many years of difficult negotiation and carefully crafted compromises and repeated isolation, he finally got the foreign secretary and the chancellor to talk to each other.

"Having said he's not going to fight over every headline any more, he's now leaving the job to those two and they're extremely good at it."

It is well known in Westminster that Robin Cook and Gordon Brown are political rivals.

Mr Hague congratulated Mr Blair preventing the European Charter of Rights being incorporated into the treaties but asked for assurances they would not become legally binding at a later date.

And he claimed Labour's MEPs voted in March in favour of giving the charter legal status.

"When are you going to get an increasingly divided Labour Party under control over this subject?" he asked.

Charter support

Mr Blair did not respond to Mr Hague's claims of cabinet splits.

But in his statement, he said the tax agreement was an "excellent deal for Britain".

He said there was a "good deal of support" among other government heads for Britain's stance on the proposed charter.

"I made clear my view that the charter should pull together in a single document the rights European citizens enjoy, that it should be political in nature, not legally binding and that it should not impose new legal obligations on member states," he said.