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Iain Duncan Smith blocks plan for childcare tax breaks in Budget
In a blow to Nick Clegg, Work and Pensions Secretary resists measure, compelling Osborne
to renege on pledge to assist squeezed middle
George Osborne's plans to use the Budget to unveil childcare tax breaks for hard-pressed families have been
blocked by Iain Duncan Smith in a major Cabinet row over funding, it emerged last night.
Parents struggling with rising childcare costs were to be given allowances of up to £1,000 in one of the coalition's
flagship proposals to help the "squeezed middle".
Yet the measures, already delayed from January, have been shelved after an 11th-hour intervention
from the Work and Pensions Secretary, whose departmental budget would have been used to help fund the scheme.
The hold-up is a significant blow to Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, who had made it a personal mission to
help low to middle-income parents with the cost of childcare.
The row leaves a gaping hole in Mr Osborne's Budget, which he will deliver on Wednesday amid
deepening concern across all parties and business that his austerity strategy is harming Britain's
economic future. Growth figures are expected to be weaker than forecast and, besides rising employment
, there is little sign that the economy is turning around.
