Abolishing non-dom status will be bad for the economy

There is something about Labour's way of managing money that provokes alarm. The opposition is putting pressure on Jeremy Hunt to reveal by the end of this month the government's intentions towards non-doms.

- CHRIS BLACKHURST

No prizes for guessing where Labour is coming from - it wants the favourable tax status afforded to foreigners scrapped. It argues the preferential arrangement which allows people who live in the UK to pay no domestic tax on their overseas income is unfair.

One person who took advantage of the scheme was the prime minister's wife, Akshata Murty, as was exclusively revealed by The Independent. The daughter of an Indian billionaire - with shares in Infosys, the tech giant her father founded - she saved up to £20m in tax by claiming to be non-domicile. Despite being married to Sunak, she maintained her permanent residence was outside the UK.

But the bit that is concerning is Labour saying it could use the revenue raised to train 7,500 more doctors a year, 10,000 more nurses and midwives, double the number of district nurses qualifying and 5,000 more health visitors, or introduce breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. It seems so binary extra NHS staff or breakfast clubs. It's hard to see how you link one to the other. It would also cost an awful lot of money. And it's flawed.