Tory plan on tax relief for married couples rejected by minister

Family justice minister Harriet Harman today rejected  introducing tax relief for married couples a day after Conservative leader David Cameron mooted it as an idea.

In a speech to the National Family and Parenting Institute, Harman said the priority for public money should be supporting children before and after divorce.

She said the fact women were on average 17 per cent worse off after divorce meant money was not a “key determinant for people staying married”.

Cameron, in his closing speech to the Conservatives’ annual conference, had called for state support, including through tax breaks, to help maintain marriages and civil partnerships.

Harman also used her speech to promote the government’s plans to open up the family courts to the press