Nick Clegg vows to defy Tory coalition colleagues in fight for ‘mansion tax’

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has vowed to fight for a “mansion tax” on high-value properties today despite opposition from his Conservative coalition partners.

The Liberal Democrat leader said that any progress would only come from “give and take” negotiations as he tries to counter suggestions that the Coalition is ignoring the most vulnerable in its drive for austerity.

Reports today also suggested that Mr Clegg would attempt to pressure Chancellor George Osborne to include the tax in his March budget.

Answering questions after a speech in the City of London today, Mr Clegg said: “Very, very high-value properties are taxed in exactly the same way at the moment as properties which are a fraction of their value - so a £10 million property at the moment is taxed in the same way as a £1 million property.

“It is quite right for us - and Liberal Democrats have done this for years - to say ‘Well, hang on a moment, should we be trying to look at some way to make sure that these people who own these multimillion-pound properties pay their fair share?’.

“I stick to my guns that I think that is something we should do.