Clarify tax deal, Brown urged

As Tory leader David Cameron vowed to make it the key issue in the forthcoming Crewe and Nantwich by-election, Frank Field, the leader of the Labour tax rebels, said greater clarity was needed about the planned compensation deal.

Mr Field and fellow Labour tax rebel, Greg Pope, were holding further talks with Chancellor Alistair Darling about the situation.

Mr Field said the failure to explain the compensation deal properly had damaged Labour in last week's catastrophic local council elections and warned the issue would continue to harm the party until it was dealt with.

He could not understand why ministers had not made clear three elements of the compensation package - the changes that were being looked at, whether as many of the affected people as possible would be helped and the backdating to the start of the tax year on April 5.

"I would go to the stake in my belief that the Prime Minister is committed totally to this package," he told BBC2's Daily Politics programme. "What I cannot understand is why these three simple sentences were not communicated immediately to ameliorate the local elections. Now we need that clear statement for the Crewe by-election."

But Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell warned that sorting out the details of the compensation package was a "complex" matter.

"We have accepted that we should have addressed the groups that lost out more quickly and we are coming forward with proposals to do exactly that," he said. "Everyone accepts that it is a complex matter."

Mr Field has yet to decide whether to re-table a rebel amendment to the Finance Bill, which he withdrew last month after the Government issued its promise of a compensation package. If he were to revive it, it could provide a fresh rallying point for Labour MPs alarmed at the collapse in the party's support and unhappy with Mr Brown's leadership.

Mr Cameron, buoyed by the Tories' powerful showing in the local elections, said he would make the row over the 10p rate the main focus of his party's campaign in Crewe and Nantwich. "We've got 15 days to overturn Labour's majority of more than 7,000. Obviously it's going to be a tall order but we are going to give it our best shot," he said.