Miliband: Labour will scrap 'non-dom' tax status

Labour leader Ed Miliband will today pledge to abolish the non-domicile status that allows wealthy UK residents to limit the tax they pay on earnings outside the country.

An estimated 116,000 people are believed to be non-domiciled in Britain for tax purposes, including figures like Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who would start having to pay tax on their worldwide income and assets under the plans.

In a speech in Coventry today, Miliband is expected to say: “There are people who live here in Britain like you and me, work here in Britain like you and me, are permanently settled here in Britain like you and me, but aren’t required to pay taxes like you and me because they take advantage of what has become an increasingly arcane 200-year-old loophole."

Entrepeneur and star of TV's Dragon's Den Duncan Bannatyne, one of the 100 business leaders who signed a letter in support of the Conservatives last week, took to twitter to support the announcement:

Conservative front bencher Nicky Morgan told BBC Radio four Labour weren't being clear in the details of the policy whether they wanted to scrap non-dom status or just change the terms.

Meanwhile, in last night's TV debate in Scotland, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said her party would help make Ed Miliband prime minister if the Conservatives failed to win a majority in the General Election. "I've said to Ed Miliband and I'll say to Jim Murphy this evening, that if there is an anti-Tory majority in the House of Commons after the election, even if the Tories are the biggest party we will work with Labour to keep David Cameron out of Downing Street," she said.

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy replied that Labour didn't need the help of the SNP.