Labour 10p shambles

After watching Mrs Balls' car crash on Wednesday night's Newsnight I can feel this Gordon Brown U turn falling apart.

Firstly as far as I can see Gordon was pressing ahead with this even though he had been warned that millions of lower paid would suffer.

He only backed down when he was faced with a back bench revolt. So the U turn was not because he was doing the right thing for the people but because he did not want to face defeat.

Mrs Balls seemed to confirm that not all benefits will be backdated which is not what Frank Field was told.

So now we end up with the crazy situation where the lowest paid will still be taxed more, to claim some of the extra tax back they will have to fill in a claim form.

This is not even mentioning that increasing the minimum wage for some of those affected is paid by employers and not the government. The government will no doubt turn it into a debate about how much the minimum wage should be, but getting business to pay for government mistakes is a shambles.