Suter said: “Despite the potential financial boost for some households during the cost of living crisis, many will see this as an odd move at a time where increasingly both parents work, and rather than encouraging economic growth and boosting productivity by getting more parents in the workforce, it instead gives a tax break for those who stay at home.”
Suter suggested that extending the tax break to those in other caring roles, such as people looking after elderly parents, would help to dodge claims of an inverse tax on the childless.
Regulation
Elsewhere, during the campaign Truss outlined plans to merge three of the financial regulators, but advisers say her plans are destined to fail.
Truss’s plan could see the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Payments Systems Regulator rolled into one new body.
Pimfa, the trade association for wealth managers and financial advisers, has previously highlighted that in the past the regulator’s approach has “been found wanting”.
Despite this, it said the government should focus on improving the existing structures rather than eyeing a merger.
Pimfa’s head of public affairs, Simon Harrington told FTAdviser: “We share the prime minister’s ambition to deliver growth across the UK economy and strongly believe that one of the key avenues for growth in this country is finding opportunities to unlock capital in productive areas.
"As part of its growth strategy, we believe that the government should put retail investors' objectives at its heart."
He added: “It is not immediately clear to us how remerging conduct and prudential regulators would bring this growth about. We would urge the government to focus on how the existing structures could be improved whilst ensuring that the regulator is suitably accountable to parliament.’
Meanwhile, BRI Wealth Management’s chief executive, Dan Boardman-Weston agreed that a merger was a bad idea.
“It’s been less than a decade since the formation of the PRA and FCA and whilst the FCA has quite rightly come under some criticism during this time, it is unclear how a merger of the two entities would solve some of the issues that the FCA has," he said.
"The current ‘twin peaks’ model is effective but a review of the performance of the FCA is fair, in light of the quite large scandals that have emerged over the last decade.
“The country, the consumer and the industry are already dealing with heightened uncertainty and we don’t need the extra uncertainty and cost that a merger would bring.”
Tax
Truss’s campaign was marked by big tax pledges, with corporation tax policy a dividing line in the contest.
