Rubbish Tax to go ahead

Trials of a scheme to tax householders who throw away too much rubbish are to forge ahead, Downing Street has said. It had been reported that Gordon Brown was planning to scrap the policy after Labour's disastrous showing in the local elections in England and Wales.

The huge losses on Thursday led to heavy criticism of the prime minister's leadership by backbenchers. The so-called pay-as-you-throw scheme, which would be run by local councils, has already been scaled back and it was thought it would now be ditched altogether. Labour's poor local election results saw their projected share of the national vote drop to 24%, pushing them into third place behind the Lib Dems (and the BNP). They were also defeated in London, where Conservative Boris Johnson beat Ken Livingstone in the mayoral race.

After adding on Sunday that voters were worried about rising petrol and food prices and utility bills, Mr Brown said Labour would recover after its worst local election results in 40 years.

Just like pushing butter up a porcupines arse with a red hot needle....... eh' Mr Brown?.

Pip pip