Cameron stands by marriage tax plan

Conservative party leader David Cameron last night defended his proposals for a tax break for married couples, the Telegraph reports.

The Tory leader has come under fire in recent weeks for his plans to provide tax breaks for married couples, with both the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats calling the pledge “divisive and expensive”.

However, Cameron insisted: “I’ve always said this is more about the message than the money… I believe we need to try to build a society that is more about ‘we’ rather than ‘me,’ where we celebrate togetherness.”

His words came as the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a Tory think-tank, suggested that the tax break could be restricted to couples with young children.

The CSJ estimated that giving married couples a tax break of £20 a week would cost £3.2 billion, which is likely to be too expensive for a Conservative government, if elected, to consider given their earlier pledges to cut public spending.