The outrage surrounding Lord Ashcroft’s statement that he is a “non-dom” is yet to die down. Many people are furious at the discovery that he is sitting in the House of Lords, voting on laws and taxes, but is not bound by those laws and taxes.
He is perfectly entitled to vote in parliament here or to live and pay taxes somewhere else. But it simply isn’t fair that he should be able to change his domicile and still decide how the rest of us are governed.
At the moment public faith in the political system is at rock bottom, the scandal of MPs expenses and this latest confession by Lord Ashcroft have both done their bit to damage Westminster’s image. Changes need to be made before the election, and a new law that bans “non-doms” from voting in Parliament would be a good start in restoring faith in our political institutions. Our Chief Executive Matthew Elliot has written about this in the Comment is Free section of the Guardian.