Married couples should not expect a promised tax break before the next general election as Britain’s economic recovery is taking far longer than the coalition expected, Ken Clarke warned in an interview published Saturday.
Clarke, a minister without portfolio, told the Daily Telegraph he would not “count on” the Conservatives meeting their manifesto pledge to let spouses share their tax allowances before the next election, scheduled for 2015.
Clarke, a former chancellor, said a “long hard road” lay ahead and years? more austerity may be needed to put the British economy back on track.
Asked whether promised tax breaks such as the reintroduction of the married tax allowance might have to be cancelled, Clarke said: “We never committed ourselves to married couples? tax by the end of the parliament.”
However, the Conservatives’ 2010 manifesto pledges to “recognise marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system in the next parliament”.
The party fought the last election promising to allow a stay-at-home parent to transfer up to £750 of their tax-free allowance to their partner to reduce their income tax bill.
The policy, limited to basic rate taxpayers, would save married couples up to £150 a year, the party claimed.
The Telegraph cited sources close to Clarke as saying after the interview that he accepted the pledge was Conservative policy and that he believed he would be implemented.
Clarke’s warning comes after weeks of bad headlines for the coalition over issues ranging from the resignation of chief whip Andrew Mitchell after his foul-mouthed tirade at police officers, to confusion over government energy policy.
There was some good news for Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday, however, when official data showed that Britain had escaped from its longest double-dip recession since the 1950s, growing one percent in the third quarter with the help of the London Olympics.
Clarke pours doubt on tax break for married couples
