Tories plan marriage tax breaks

George Osborne commits to marriage tax breaks

Saturday, 23, Aug 2008 12:00

The next Conservative government's taxation policy will include breaks for married couples, shadow chancellor George Osborne has pledged.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the senior Tory official said marriage helped build a strong society as he vowed to bring back a policy scrapped by Labour in the past.

He told the paper: "Marriage will be recognised in the tax system. If I am David's chancellor - which I fully expect to be - then I will implement that. There is no disagreement there at all.

"Of course everyone is entitled to choose how to live their lives, and some marriages do fail, but we know that in general marriage is an institution that contributes to building a stronger society.

"That is why Labour was wrong to stop supporting it through the tax system and that is why we will recognise it," he added.

The Telegraph cites senior officials in the party as saying the initiative would be an "early priority" for the party, if it wins the next general election.

In the interview, Mr Osborne stated that his party was not overly concerned about Labour's strategy and accused his rivals of being "totally obsessed" with predicting the Conservative party's moves.

He said: "If you're running a race and you're ahead, you don't have to keep looking over your shoulder. Just focus on what you're doing, setting the pace you want to set. We are not constantly terrified by the shadow of Gordon Brown and Labour.

"Interestingly, I think they are totally obsessed with us and spend their whole lives working out in minute detail what Cameron's going to say. In fact, he should just get on with being the PM and lead his country and stop obsessing about his opponents," he told the paper.