In addition, the party has pledged to put 1p on income tax to pay for increased health spending. The money raised would primarily be invested in social care which will get £2bn a year, and care outside of hospital, mental health and public health.

Farron made the corporation tax comments as part of his commitment to putting an additional £7bn of funding into education, which he said had been starved of money under the Conservatives.

The married couples allowance, introduced in 2015, allows couples to transfer £1,150 of one partner’s personal allowance to the other, if the person making the transfer has an income of £11,500 or less. has been in force since 2015. Take up of the allowance has run at lower levels than anticipated.

Farron also suggested funding for schools would come from the £100bn in revenue he said the UK would hold onto by opting to stay in the EU's internal market.

In an interview on the Today programme, Farron said: ‘It is desperately needed... We are going to see over the next three years £3bn taken out of schools. Two thirds of schools in Britain will be sacking at least one teacher before the start of the academic year and that is because the Conservatives have chosen priorities which are wrong.’

The Conservative party remains committed to lowering the rate of corporation tax, which is set to drop to 17% by 2020. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to announce shortly that the rate should rise from 19% to 26% over the same period.

Pat Sweet