New Marriage Tax Allowance “patronising drivel”

Today The Times reports that: "Some senior Conservatives were angry at suggestions that the policy was a “quid pro quo” for the marriage tax allowance…The marriage tax allowance, to be announced by David Cameron at the Tory Party’s annual conference from 29th September, is expected to cost about £550 million.” The benefit which is due to start before the 2015 election “will be spelt out in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement."

The Tories promised a £150 tax break to married couples at the last general election, but, in a sign of how the issue could cause divisions in the coalition government, the proposal was ridiculed by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg as “patronising drivel that belongs in the Edwardian age”.

Plans for tax breaks for married couples are set to be brought forward in a move seen as an attempt to placate restless Conservative backbench MPs.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been under pressure to bring in the changes from members of his own party, but it is an issue likely to expose disagreements in the coalition. Liberal Democrats have a specific opt-out on the issue. Labour has already stated its opposition to the idea.

Mr Cameron said: “The point is that we are going to be putting in place the marriage tax proposal in law. We will be announcing plans for that in this parliament.”

Former Conservative minister Tim Loughton had moved to force a Commons vote on the issue with backbenchers feeling that work on the policy was moving too slowly. Mr Cameron said MPs should “let the government get on with it”.

Julianne Marriott, director of the Don’t Judge My Family campaign opposed to marriage being written into tax laws, said this week: “Today, Nick Clegg will announce to much applause that the government is going to bring in free school lunches for all children at primary school. But there’s no such thing as a free school lunch. It’s the deal the Liberal Democrats have done to let their Conservative colleagues implement marriage tax breaks, about which we expect to hear more from Mr Cameron at his party conference. Don’t forget – marriage tax breaks are not about helping children: they wouldn’t help the 1 in 4 children who grow up in a single parent family, and actually, most of the couples who will get it don’t have children living at home at all. They’re actually about judging our families and promoting an out of date view of family life where one person is a breadwinner and the other is a homemaker..”

Nick Clegg has announced free school meals for every 5- to 7-year-old...

Free school meals are to be extended to all infant pupils in England at a cost of £600million a year. Nick Clegg will announce today that from next September an extra 1.5million children will qualify for the meals, regardless of their parents’ income. Mr Clegg’s announcement at 5pm came only two hours after Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander had told the conference: ‘There’s no spending bonanza around the corner!’" - Daily Mail

By Richard Pearson