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George Osborne’s pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million for couples is among the worst of his many bad decisions.

The former chancellor’s promise in 2015 means a couple leaving a £1 million home to their family will not pay a penny in “death duties” by 2020.

The first step in increasing the inheritance tax threshold from its present level of £325,000 per person to £500,000 person is due to happen in April.

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But this is a hugely unjust and unfair tax cut at a time when millions of families are struggling to make ends meet and the NHS is in the grip of a cash crisis.

When he presents his Budget on March 8, Philip Hammond should scrap his predecessor’s promised inheritance tax cut and spend the money on the far more important area of early years childcare.

The inheritance tax break could be worth around £38,400 to a privileged elite of a few thousand families in London and the South East where property prices have soared, but it will cost everyone else £1 billion to pay for it.

It is a regressive and poorly conceived tax cut that will only widen the North-South divide.

(Image: Publicity Picture)

How can it be right to give a huge tax break to a couple with a £1 million property when millions can only dream of buying their own home or finding an affordable place to rent?

The Tories claim they support the idea that those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden when it comes to tax.

If that’s true, they should immediately scrap this tax cut that only helps a tiny handful of already rich families and spend the savings on early years childcare.

* Labour MP Rachel Reeves is a member of the Treasury Select Committee