Ed Miliband’s biggest donor has claimed Labour need to dump policies that “penalise” business and that the Conservatives are the best party at managing the economy in Europe. Dr Assem Allam, who has given £400k to Labour, said the party needed to stop demonising wealth creators.
He also claimed the proposed Mansion Tax and the 50p income tax band risked “alienating” middle class voters.
The Hull City FC boss made the comments in the Daily Telegraph, telling the paper that Miliband was too beholden to the Trade Unions. He also claimed Len McCluskey’s threat to hold illegal strikes if the Conservatives win should act as a “wake up call”.
Allam said: “The only way to make everyone rich is to support the rich to be richer. If we carry on talking this language it is not in my opinion good for the future of the party.
“We need to stop saying tax the wealthy, do this, do that, mansion tax, we need something different. Can someone convince me that without wealth creators we will do better as a nation? No.
“The Conservatives have got a point, a strong point, which is their ability to manage the economy. I think this is in the genes of the Conservative Party, their ability to get the economy of the country on the right track.
“In actual fact I believe they are the best party in Europe in managing the economy. I like David Cameron and have met him twice. I think Ed needs to be a bit more right wing. He could learn from that [Margaret Thatcher’s approach]. Tony Blair learned from that.”
Despite having given so much money to the Labour Party, Dr Allam refused to say which party he intended to vote for. He did however claim that Margaret Thatcher was the “best thing to ever happen to this country” and that Tony Blair was right to follow her pro-business message.
He also said that he had donated so much money to the Labour Party because he did not want them to be financially reliant on the Unions. Allam said: “Had it not been for Margaret Thatcher’s controlling the unions, we would have been the poorest country in Europe.
“By having the Labour Party totally relying on income from the union, the paymaster, then the Labour Party finds itself having to please the paymaster. Labour is too reliant on the union’s and their money.”
His comments are likely to overshadow Labours efforts to persuade business to back them. They claim the biggest threat to the economy are plans to leave the EU.
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