Harman: Tories’ marriage plans ‘smug’
By politics.co.uk staff
Harriet Harman, deputy Labour leader has said the Conservatives’ plan for tax-breaks for married people is “smug, Victorian finger-wagging.”
She said the plans, with would see married couples earning under £44,000 a year save £3 a week sent a terrible message to unmarried people.
Speaking to the Guardian, Ms Harman said: “I think that the worst thing is that it combines smugness and blaming. And I think that is a terrible thing to do. ‘We’re going to send you a message – we, the smug married – you’ve got to be like us.’ And actually, I just think that that is wrong, and not what should be happening in politics.
“It’s stigmatising and moralising. It’s not actually big government, because it’s not actually doing anything. It’s Victorian finger-wagging. It’s terrible.”
Ms Harman’s attack comes just before a campaign is launched on social networking site Facebook, called Don’t Judge My Family.
The campaign, backed by JK Rowling, aims to get people to promise to donate the tax break to charity in the event of a Conservative government.
It said if it had £550m “to spend on helping vulnerable kids and supporting unstable relationships, we’d target it on Sure Start, children’s centres and charities helping kids get the best start in life. In this fiscal climate, we certainly would not spend £550m of taxpayers’ money on ‘sending a signal’. Especially one which is so judgmental.”
In the Guardian interview Ms Harman insisted she had not been sidelined in the election campaign by party bosses.
