Alan Milburn tells Labour to be 'honest' about 'absolutely incidental' 50p tax take Ex health secretary said it was important not to 'kid ourselves' over 50p tax He said the tax would be 'absolutely incidental to state of public finances' Labour holding a debate on the reintroduction of tax rate in Commons today Ed Miliband needs to get real about trying to cut the deficit by hiking tax on the rich, a Blairite former Cabinet minister has claimed. Alan Milburn said bringing back the 50p tax rate would be "absolutely incidental to the state of the public finances." The former health secretary said it was important not to "kid ourselves" about the scale of the deficit and what was needed to balance the budget. Former Cabinet minister Alan Milburn said Labour needed more 'realism' over the state of the public finances Mr Milburn's remarks emerge after Labour called a Commons debate on the reintroduction of Gordon Brown's 50p tax rate on salaries over £150,000. The coalition scrapped the rate in 2012 - bringing the top rate of income tax down to 45 per cent. Chancellor George Osborne claimed the higher rate "raised just a third of the £3billion that we were told it would raise." But the Shadow chancellor Ed Balls announced in January that Labour would restore the 50p rate if the party wins power next year. Mr Balls has insisted the hike would be temporary and used to plug the country's budget deficit. But Mr Miliburn said Labour's spending plans were "big bunts" which could not be paid for by simply raising taxes on the wealthy. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has pledged to reintroduce the 50p top rate of tax on those earning more than £150,000 Mr Milburn - pictured with Mr Balls - was Labour's election co-ordinator in the 2005 general election, won by Tony Blair Speaking at a Progress event at Labour conference Mr Milburn was asked if it was the job of left-wing parties to redistribute wealth. He said: "I gather that we are going to do that through a 50p tax rate which I mean, whether or not I agree with it, will be absolutely incidental, by the way, to the state of the public finances. Incidental, so let's not kid ourselves. This is big bunts if you're talking about a Scandinavian style early years system which is what people want, if you're talking about the best performing schools in the world, which people want, if you're talking about protecting pensioners, investing in infrastructure, doing all those things, even in the height of the good times not all of that was possible. In the bad times it's certainly not going to be possible. So all I'm saying to you as fellow party members is that we need a note of realism and we need a note of edge as we go into the next General Election. Labour's shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said the 50p tax rate was necessary to balance the books fairly Treasury minister David Gauke claimed the remarks by one of Labour's 'big beasts' showed Labour did not have 'a credible economic plan'. He said: 'They bust the economy and left us with the highest deficit since the war - everyone knows they would do it again. Ed Miliband just isn't up the job.' The Institute of Fiscal Studies has said the "raising the top rate of tax would raise little revenue and make, at best, a marginal contribution to reducing the budget deficit an incoming government would face after the next election." Labour peer Digby Jones has also attacked the policy as "lousy economics." But Labour has insisted the tax crucial to its 'fair plan to balance the books'. Chris Leslie, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "While millions of working people have seen their taxes go up, millionaires have been given a huge tax cut by David Cameron's government. The top one per cent of earners have been given a £3 billion a year tax cut - worth an average of £100,000 for those earning over £1 million. But at the same time families will be on average almost £1,000 a year worse off by next year as a result of tax and benefit changes since 2010. How can a tax cut for millionaires be the right priority when working people are still not feeling the recovery and the deficit remains high? Now the Tories want to cut tax credits again for millions of working families while keeping their huge tax cut for top one per cent of earners. As we've seen time and time again, the Tories always stand up for a privileged few rather than hard working people. We know their real economic plan is to cut taxes at the top and hope that wealth will just trickle down. That's why David Cameron and George Osborne still won't rule out cutting the top rate of tax again for earnings over £150,000 from 45p to 40p. Working people who are worse off under David Cameron can't afford more of this same old failed Tory economics. As part of our plan to balance the books in the next Parliament in a fairer way Labour will reverse the Tory tax cut for millionaires and introduce a lower 10p starting rate of tax for 24 million working people.