Under Conservative plans to bury the “Zac Goldsmith is a non-dom and Michael Ashcroft might be” news stories, all members of the UK Parliament – both the House of Commons and the House of Lords – will be required to be, or be treated as, a UK taxpayer.

A new law will be introduced immediately after a Conservative general election victory making all peers and MPs have to pay UK taxes.

This is precisely the sort of move that is necessary both from a PR and political point of view. It shows that the Tories are willing and able to cut non-doms out of Parliament and make every parliamentarian pay UK taxes – just like the rest of us.

Zac Goldsmith has already given up his non-dom status, and Michael Ashcroft said he would when he become a peer (even if he has since refused to confirm that he has). David Cameron is confirming that after the general election, Ashcroft certainly will be domiciled in the UK for tax purposes – even if he has not been since 2000.

Legislating to ensure that anyone and everyone who is able to vote in Parliament pays UK taxes is undoubtedly a Good Thing. Labour and the Lib Dems are sniping at the proposals because they didn’t think to make them themselves. It would have been the logical thing to propose back when the “non-dom” fiasco first came up – but none of the parties seemed to think about it, presumably because they all have non-doms in the Lords who they didn’t want to upset. But finally the Tories have taken the plunge.

This is when the other parties should be saying “yes, you’re right” and presenting a unified front rather than indulging themselves in playground politics.