Tax cut 'would boost Tory families'

The families of members of David Cameron's shadow cabinet stand to gain a total of £7 million if the Conservatives win the election and implement their promise to cut inheritance tax, it was reported.

Some 18 of the 32 shadow cabinet members have estates large enough to benefit from the Tory plan to raise the threshold for the tax to £2 million for a married couple, it was claimed.

Mr Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne are among nine top Tories whose families stand to gain the maximum £520,000 from the change, because their wealth is estimated at more than £2 million, the Mirror newspaper calculated.

Labour backbencher Stephen Hepburn said the figures made a mockery of Mr Osborne's claim that "we're all in this together" in cutting state debt.

But a Conservative spokesman said that it was "pretty rich" for Labour to complain about the Tory plans when the families of almost all Cabinet ministers would benefit from increases in the inheritance tax threshold over recent years.

Mr Osborne made the pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million - or £2 million for married couples - in a 2007 conference speech which was widely credited with turning the tide in the polls in favour of the Conservatives.

At present, inheritance tax is paid on the estates left when couples die at a rate of 40% above a threshold of £650,000, with nothing payable below that level. The nil-tax cut-off point is due to rise to £700,000 next year.

Mr Hepburn said: "For far too long the Conservatives have got away with claiming they are on the side of working people. The reality is they have a deep-bred instinct to look after their own. These figures reveal that very clearly."

But a Conservative spokesman said: "It is pretty rich for Labour to complain about our inheritance tax proposals. The families of all but three members of the Cabinet - 20 in all - stand to benefit to the tune of £130,000 each from the inheritance tax changes introduced by Gordon Brown in 2007.

"Collectively, their families potentially gain £2.6 million. The other three also stand to benefit, though by lesser amounts. Inheritance tax is a worry for millions of aspirational people who work hard and save hard all their lives. Currently more than two million homes are at risk of falling into the inheritance tax net. We believe that only millionaires should pay inheritance tax?"