Jon Trickett presses Thatcher-like Government on its decision to cut benefits for low-income families
Local MP Jon Trickett was selected to sit on a Legislation Committee, along with Government Ministers to debate the Coalition Government’s proposals to scrap Child Trust Funds.
During the committee, Jon Trickett made a number of interventions in defence of the Child Trust Fund arguing that it was vital to help people save who would otherwise not be able to. In response to the Minister’s defence in scrapping the benefit that helps over 4,000 people in Hemsworth constituency, Mr Trickett argued that the Government’s plans simply transferred money from the poor to the very wealthy few:
The Finance Bill now going through (Parliament) gives the power to assist the richest 300,000 people in the country to the value of £3.6billion on pensions relief . . . as opposed to less than £200 million to help the poorest children. That is the choice the Government is making.
Also in Parliament this week, in response to a number of questions asked by Jon Trickett on the scrapping of the Health in Pregnancy Grant, the Government has attempted to claim that the series of measures it is taking are ‘fair’ and will ‘not have a measurable impact on child poverty rates within the next two years.’
Jon Trickett said:
I find it very difficult to believe that the combination of cuts to public spending and people’s benefits will, from anybody’s perspective, be ‘fair’ on the poorest people and particularly children from areas such as Hemsworth. Save the Children estimate that the VAT increase alone will cost the poorest parents at least £1,600 extra per year.
As I have raised over and over again in Parliament, this Government’s proposals are not only short-sighted in that they will stall economic growth but they will also have a permanent and lasting effect on already deprived areas. The attack on the poorest and most vulnerable in society from the Conservative and Liberal Democrats is worse than Thatcher.
The package of measures that the Coalition is proposing will impact hardest on people from low-income backgrounds, who are renting in the private sector, who have a disabled family member or who have children on the way; in short, the people most at risk from spending cuts. It is so typical of the Conservatives to line the pockets of their wealthy friends by taking from those who need it most.