Tax break for couples is sign of Tories’ ignorance, says JK Rowling

12 April 2012

Harry Potter author JK Rowling lambasted David Cameron's married couples' tax break today, claiming it proved the Tories hadn't changed.

Rowling, who was a single mother on benefit before her first book was published, said the Conservative plan to offer £3 a week proved the party's leader was "completely ignorant" of the plight of lone parents living in poverty, and that the £600 million earmarked for the policy would be better spent on helping children.

She said that in 1993, when her first marriage broke down, she became "a hate figure to a certain section of the press, and a bogeyman to the Tory government".

She told The Times: "How many prospective husbands did I ever meet, when I was the single mother of a baby, unable to work, stuck inside my flat, night after night, with barely enough money for life's necessities?

"Should I have proposed to the youth who broke in through my kitchen window at 3am? Half a billion pounds to send a message — would it not be more cost-effective, more personal, to send all the lower-income married people flowers?"

The multimillionaire author said the Tory plan would turn off not only two million single parents but also unmarried couples.

"David Cameron tells us that the Conservatives have changed, that they are no longer the nasty party', that he wants the UK to be one of the most family-friendly nations in Europe', but I, for one, am not buying it.

"If his only practical advice to women living in poverty, the sole carers of their children, is get married and we'll give you £150', he reveals himself to be completely ignorant of their true situation.

"Maybe you know people who would legally bind themselves to another human being, for life, for an extra £150 a year? Perhaps you were contemplating leaving a loveless or abusive marriage but underwent a change of heart on hearing about a possible £150 tax break? Anything is possible; but somehow, I doubt it."

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