Back where we started
Having campaigned for a new £6 per household ‘broadband tax' for some time, the government was forced to scrap it as it tried to push through its unfinished business in the end-of-parliament ‘wash-up' process.
As you will all be aware, Gordon Brown announced the general election will take place on 6 May yesterday, which means Parliament will be dissolved on 12 April so politicians on all sides can devote themselves exclusively to grubby personal attacks and promising things they never intend to deliver.
This means all unfinished business has to be resolved before then, resulting in the rare spectacle of decisions and compromises being made without the standard drawn-out debating process. The Tories were always against the broadband tax and, despite having only formally introduced it a couple of weeks ago, the government was forced to scrap it in order to push its finance bill - which enacts the budget into law - through.
Also scrapped during wash-up was the tax rise on cider and the end of tax relief of holiday home lettings.
The Digital Economy Bill, which includes a number of measures set-out in the Digital Britain initiative, will also have to be pushed through before the election and the government may end up having to scrap unpopular measures such as forcing ISPs to disconnect file-sharers.
This sort of thing does nothing to counter the general sense of disillusionment and apathy felt by the electorate. Scrapping a measure it has spent so much of our time and money promoting, because it has run out of time, does nothing to restore a faith in the competence of the government.
