Tax cuts for parents will restore Tory election chances, new poll finds

More than a third of parents say they would be more likely to vote Tory if Jeremy Hunt introduces a Budget for Families. Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP

Cutting income tax for parents would brighten the Conservatives' gloomy election prospects, according to a new poll.

The poll found almost universal demand for the Chancellor to cut taxes in his Budget next year. per month, with seven out of eight people calling on him to act.

Unlike other Western countries, the UK tax system for almost 40 years taxed partners in relationships as individuals rather than taxing household income, and therefore did not take into account dependent children.

More than a third of parents ( 38 per cent) said they would be more likely to vote Tory if Jeremy Hunt unveiled a Budget for Families with big tax cuts, compared with just 3 per cent who would be less inclined. Among families with young children, the share of those “more likely to be conservative” rises to 47%.

Overall, almost one in five adults (18 per cent) say such a package would make them more likely to vote Conservative, three times more than 6 per cent who are less likely.

Labour supporters (by a ratio of two and a half to one), and the Lib Dems (by a ratio of three to one) would also consider switching to the Tories if tax cuts were targeted at families.

The appetite for family tax cuts is also surprisingly strong among young people (18 to 24 years old). By a margin of more than six to one (33 percent to 5 percent), young people say they would be more inclined to vote Conservative if the chancellor leaned in that direction.

The survey results come as the Chancellor began to downplay the prospect of significant tax cuts in his March 6 Budget, warning the Cabinet Office on Wednesday that its ability to tax cuts are smaller than expected.

< Conservative MPs will see his intervention as a belated attempt to live up to expectations after weeks in which he and the Prime Minister promised to deliver the Budget. Polls show the Tories currently trail Labor by around 20 points.

Overall, the survey found the public believes the cost of living crisis has hit families with dependent children harder than any other social group.

‌Three in five people (60 percent) agree with this view, while one in four (24 percent) disagree. Consensus figures reach 75 percent among people aged 18 to 24 and 84 percent among those with dependent children.

The public also believes that shrinking family budgets is leading to higher rates of family breakdown, which they are considered a serious social problem and are associated with educational failure, crime and unemployment.

A clear majority (51 percent, up from 31 percent) said that if families had more money in their pockets, the rate of family breakdown would decrease.

The Whitestone Insight survey of 2,000 adults, commissioned by the Family Hubs Network, found widespread public dissatisfaction with the way the UK tax system fails to account for the extra costs parents face when raising children.

< p>When asked about the proposal, almost two in three people agree that the costs are being ignored (63 per cent), a share that rises to 72 per cent among Labor voters and young people aged 18-24 (according to compared with 57 percent of those 55 and older).

Among adults with children 18 or younger, that figure rises to 84 percent.

The Family Hubs network, co-founded by Lord Michael Farmer, former Treasurer of the Conservative Party, and Dr Samantha Callan, David Cameron's former family policy adviser, will present the results of the Chancellor's survey.

Lord Farmer said: “The injustice of our individual tax system, coupled with enormous pressure on the cost of living, is pushing many families to the breaking point.”

“We are not like that. They are in favor of new cash benefits, but rather for families to simply be able to keep more of their hard-earned money. The government must reform the family tax system.”