17.10.03

One of the less loony ideas to come out of this year's Lib Dem conference was the replacement of Council Tax by local income tax.

A campaign to "scrap the council tax" was duly launched and put in the hands of the party's "economic guru", Kingston and Surbiton MP Edward Davey. On 3 October he launched a "scrap council tax" page on his website, complete with a box in which people could post their opinions and vote for or against the idea.

By 6 October, things were not looking too good for the campaign. Of 2,447 votes cast, just 12 agreed that "council tax should be scrapped and replaced by a local income tax", leaving some 2,435 against the idea - statistically 100 percent.

Smelling a rat, Lib Dem anoraks [I don't even own an anorak - Webmaster] investigated and discovered that nearly all the "No" votes had been cast by a small group of hackers over a very short period.

It was noted that both the internet café and the bars at the Conservative party conference had opened at about the same time. Posted rants about Davey being a "socialist" also pointed to the source of the manipulation.

Reprinted from Private Eye