David Cameron and George Osborne made “no effort at all” to include a tax break for married couples in the Queen’s Speech, according to a Liberal Democrat source.
It comes as the Government faces criticism for being slow to introduce the tax breaks while rushing through same-sex marriage.
This week a leaked letter from a Government Minister was revealed showing an announcement will be made in “due course”.
Surprising
But according to the Lib Dem source, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor did not push for the move to be included in the Sovereign’s announcement on forthcoming legislation.
The source added: “We found that surprising since they keep going on about it”.
A Daily Mail editorial, while welcoming the idea of marriage tax breaks, sounded “a note of scepticism”, commenting that the proposal may not actually materialise.
Never?
It commented: “All we are told is that the tax breaks will be available ‘in due course’ (which will mean ‘never’, if an incoming government repeals them before they take effect).”
And the newspaper noted that there was “no such hesitation”, “about pressing ahead with legalising gay marriage, which no party promised”.
It added: “How can they call themselves Tories, if they think upholding the traditional family is less important?”
Controversial
Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister, criticised the delay in marriage tax breaks – and compared it to the push for same-sex marriage.
He said: “We constantly get told it’s going to happen, but when?”
He added: “The Government has forced through gay marriage.
“Why is this commitment such a difficult one to fulfil?”
Absence
An editorial in The Daily Telegraph yesterday noted that when David Cameron introduced his “deeply controversial proposals for gay marriage” he claimed that they would help to “strengthen the institution as a whole”.
“Yet”, the newspaper added, “every time Mr Osborne appears in the House of Commons to unveil his latest plans, this particular tax policy is conspicuous by its absence”.