{"id":6559,"date":"2015-10-30T14:35:25","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T14:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2015-11-02T11:42:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T11:42:52","slug":"the-lone-chancellor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=6559","title":{"rendered":"The Lone Chancellor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The tax credit cuts saga continued in Parliament yesterday (October 29) as Labour MP Frank Field urged the government through a cross-party motion to rethink its tax credit reforms that, if pushed through as planned, would devastate low-income families.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTalking to constituents you cannot come away without being incredibly conscious of the fears people are suffering,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he told MPs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople we should be saluting and cheering are sick with worry about how they will make ends meet, whether they are going to lose their homes, whether the interest on their mortgages can be repaid, let alone protecting their children.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emboldened by an historic vote in the House of Lords this week that forced the government to reconsider the cuts, MPs from across the political spectrum voiced their concerns.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not one Tory minister <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not one Tory minister spoke out in favour of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tax credit cuts in the Commons debate last night, with at least 10 Conservative MPs outspokenly criticising the cuts, which would see millions of families lose out on an average of \u00c2\u01411,300 each year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the end, the motion, which calls on the government to \u00e2\u20ac\u015breconsider the effect on the lowest paid workers of its proposed changes to tax credits due to come into force in April 2016, to carry out and publish analysis of that effect, and to bring forward proposals to mitigate it\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 was carried unanimously \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 215 to 0.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stevenage MP Stephen McPartland spearheaded the Tory opposition to Chancellor George Osborne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cuts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople on \u00c2\u014111,000 will still be hit by the \u00c2\u01411,200 or \u00c2\u01411,400 cut,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat punishes people who are going out to work and doing the right thing. That does not sit right with me and I cannot support it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI warn the Treasury that if it does not come forward with mitigation proposals that we find acceptable, we will continue to raise the issue and try to look after the poorest in society.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Partland warned that taking billions from the lowest paid would also have an adverse effect on the economy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBasic macroeconomics suggests to me that if you take 4.4bn pound off people earning the lowest incomes that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 4.4bn pound straight out of the economy because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking it out of their pockets and they use that money and go out and spend it right away,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo every pound you take off them, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking out of the shops and local economies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make sense.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not far enough <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Field noted that the measures the government has taken to mitigate the tax credit cuts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including a higher minimum wage, an increase in free childcare hours and raising the personal allowance threshold \u00e2\u20ac\u201c do not go far enough to protect the lowest paid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ministers put forward several proposals that would enable the government to still achieve their planned savings without hammering the working poor. Field argued that if only new claimants faced the reduction in tax credits, families currently reliant on tax credits to make ends meet would be spared.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Field also suggested that the Chancellor could delay the cuts, due to take effect in April, until wages went up significantly, or he could aim for a smaller budget surplus than planned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He noted that there were other areas that the government could potentially make savings, such as pension tax relief. If reformed, he noted, pension tax relief, which costs \u00c2\u014134bn each year, could \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunlock huge sums of money\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Link <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Last night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s debate came in the wake of work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued refusal to admit the link between the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity policies and the dramatic rise in food banks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At a work and pensions committee on Wednesday (October 28), SNP MP Mhairi Black grilled Iain Duncan Smith over Trussell Trust food bank figures that showed food bank use in Scotland had skyrocketed by nearly 400 per cent between 2012 and 2014.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Iain Duncan Smith dismissed the figures and denied any connection between government measures such as benefits sanctions and food bank use. But in the same breath, he announced a new pilot that would see Job Centre staff being posted at food banks to provide users with advice on benefits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Fabian Commission on Food and Poverty report<\/a> published on the same day found that if the tax credit cuts go through, food bank use will skyrocket even further as food budgets are squeezed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA lack of disposable income puts up a huge barrier to being able to acquire, cook and consume an adequate diet,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the Commission noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is because food is the most flexible part of the household budget: it can be squeezed in ways housing or energy can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be. It also means that when household budgets of the poorest are hit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as the tax credit changes threaten to do \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the food budget that takes the strain.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner called on the government to do the right thing and change course on tax credit cuts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe chancellor says he is in \u00e2\u20ac\u0098listening mode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, but we need him to do more than listen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we need him to act,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhatever their motivations, even Tory MPs have come to grips with the fact that the cuts to tax credits will devastate low-paid workers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turning point <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve reached a turning point on one of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flagship policies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a point at which the likes of Chancellor George Osborne will have to swallow his arrogance and, under the weight of pressure from the people, admit that he was wrong,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt just goes to show what we can accomplish by joining together to tell the government that we aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t taking it any more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bStill, the fight is not yet over \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we must continue to pressure the government until it backs down on its flagrant assault on working people. Like cuts to tax credits, the trade union Bill is yet another example of this assault.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe urge everyone to join us at the TUC rally and lobby this Monday (November 2) to fight the bill.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about the TUC event here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tax credit cuts saga continued in Parliament yesterday (October 29) as Labour MP Frank Field urged the government through a cross-party motion to rethink its tax credit reforms that, if pushed through as planned, would devastate low-income families.   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTalking to constituents you cannot come away without being incredibly conscious of the fears people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[76,436,429],"wps_subtitle":"Tory ministers silent on tax credit cut support","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6560,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions\/6560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}