They haven’t got a clue, have they? (From Bournemouth Echo)

They haven’t got a clue, have they?

7:00pm Friday 22nd January 2010

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I AM sick of the political row about giving tax breaks to married couples.

David Cameron wants to reward married folks with tax allowances. And Ed Balls thinks this is discriminatory towards unmarried couples and single parents.

And their arguments show that neither of them actually has a clue about what’s going on and what really needs to change.

Where do Cammo and Balls think all these single-parent families came from? How do they think they got like that? Because they didn’t just suddenly appear, did they?

Before splitting up, most of these single parents were in families, the institution derided by so many politically-correct social engineers but actually acknowledged as ‘nature’s masterpiece’ when it comes to the successful raising of children. Certainly the statistics point to better health, wealth, education and a longer life for kids who have been placed at the centre of two parents’ lives.

I know this is traditionally the divorce season – plenty of lawyers are telling us that. But this year it’s ridiculous. Sadly I know of four couples who are splitting up. And I think it’s no coincidence that ALL of them ran their own businesses or were self-employed or sole traders.

They have struggled and fought and given their all to make a go of their enterprise. But thanks to the terminal meddling in small businesses’ affairs by this government; the bureaucracy, the VAT, the diversity and multi-cultural and petty health and safety legislation, thanks to the European directives and the constant raiding of their finances by successive Chancellors they have buckled under the strain. And it’s the marriage which has paid the price, drowned in a sea of rows and stress over money.

If challenged about these issues, Gordon Brown’s stock reply is to reel of a list of ‘measures’ his government has put in place to help ‘hard-working families’.

For families with kids it's the Child Tax Credit, an iniquitous arrangement that only works if mum and dad are in fixed jobs on a fixed low income. If your wages fluctuate as they tend to when you are a self-employed brickie or run a corner shop, it is worse than useless.

This isn’t extra money, it’s money these people have already earned and had snatched away from them by the taxman. The simple thing to do would be to raise the threshold at which tax kicks in. It would save money, cut out the middle-man and allow everyone, married or otherwise, to spend their income as they saw fit.

But that would stop so many people being reliant on the state. And Gordon can’t risk that. He wants us all to feel pathetically grateful for what we get.

And that’s why thousands of people this week trooped miserably off to the solicitor to start the divorce ball rolling. Ignored when they were married and trying to make a go of things, they know that once they are single, the benefits will come cascading in.

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