STEPHEN GLOVER: If only the Tories had the guts to do what’s morally right – and cut our unfair inheritance tax By Stephen Glover Published: 18:29 EST, 17 September 2014 | Updated: 20:01 EST, 17 September 2014 Which have been the most popular policies unveiled by the Tories since David Cameron became their leader nearly nine years ago? Welfare reform would have to be one, though it was the brainchild of Iain Duncan Smith rather than the Prime Minister. An even more popular policy, I’d say, was one that has never been introduced. It was announced by George Osborne, then Shadow Chancellor, on October 1, 2007, at the Tory Party Conference in Blackpool. In a inspiring speech, Mr Osborne promised that a future Conservative government would raise the limit at which inheritance tax is paid from £300,000, then the threshold for an individual, to £1 million. Big promises: George Osborne promised at the 2007 conference (pictured) to more than treble the threshold Tory fortunes soared — so much that Gordon Brown, the then Prime Minister, decided to call off the General Election he had been contemplating (probably a fatal misjudgment since he would almost certainly have won). One instant poll found that 62 per cent of people approved of Mr Osborne’s plan. The fascinating thing is that only about 5 per [...] liverpoolinnews/stephen-glover-if-only-the-tories-had-the-guts-to-do-whats-morally-right-and-cut-our-unfair-inheritance-tax/
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 02:45:33 +0000