Amid concerns on the Tory right that the prime minister has no feel for their concerns, the prime minister told the ConservativeHome website that he can force the touchstone issue of tax and marriage because he is technically the most senior Treasury minister.
"The prime minister is the first lord of the treasury," Cameron said as he made clear that he would deliver on a commitment in the coalition agreement to hold a Commons vote on a marriage tax allowance by the time of the next election.
The remarks, made on the local election campaign trail in Carlisle, were seen as a snub to the socially liberal George Osborne, who is wary of the idea, and to the Liberal Democrats, who are opposed to recognising marriage in the tax system. Under the coalition agreement the Lib Dems will have the right to abstain in any Commons vote on the issue.
Asked whether he still had plans to recognise marriage in the tax system, Cameron said: "Yes I do; we set them out at the last election in the Conservative manifesto. The coalition agreement specifically said that while the Liberal Democrats don't agree with them they would abstain if we promoted them and that's exactly what we'll do before the end of this parliament."
The prime minister will please the right – and try to neutralise the threat posed by Ukip in Thursday's local elections – when he introduces legislation in the Queen's speech next month to limit some benefits to migrants. It is understood that legislation will focus in particular on placing restrictions on access to the health service outlined in the prime minister's speech on immigration last month.
Cameron told the BBC: "The deal is this: I will control immigration. I will get those levels down. You will see measures coming forward where we start to change the way things work in this country. Right now if you're an immigrant your status isn't checked when you're given either a private sector house or a state sector house. Your status isn't checked properly when you are using our health service. That isn't right. That is going to change and it is going to change in legislation very soon."
Ministers have spent the last few months working on how to limit access to benefits when "transitional controls", which have imposed some limits on Romanians and Bulgarians settling in Britain after they joined the EU in 2007, are lifted. The government has had to act with care because restrictions on EU citizens have to apply to all member states, including British citizens.
Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, outlined the changes in more detail on the same day as the prime minister's immigration speech on 25 March when he told MPs foreign nationals owed the NHS at least £200m a year, or 0.2% of the NHS budget. He said access to free NHS care would be limited to permanent, not temporary, overseas residents.
Hunt told MPs: "The initial phase of [a government] review has concluded and we will shortly start a consultation on a range of options, including plans to extend charging to some visitors and temporary residents who were previously exempt so that the default qualification for free NHS care would be permanent, not temporary, residence; ending free access to primary care for all visitors and tourists; introducing a prepayment or insurance requirement for temporary visitors to pay for NHS healthcare; and improving how the NHS can identify, charge and recover charges where they should apply. We will retain exemptions for emergency treatment and public health issues."
Original Article
Source: guardian.co.uk
Author: Nicholas Watt
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