Welfare changes are fair, says PM

1 February 2012 Last updated at 08:15 ET

 

House of Commons live

Prime Minister David Cameron has said welfare changes are "right and fair" and challenged Labour to support the government's benefit cap plan.

The £26,000-a-year cap is one of seven areas on which the Welfare Reform Bill has suffered defeats in the Lords.

The bill has now returned to the Commons as ministers say they are determined to get their plans through.

Labour say they support the benefit cap in principle - but want changes to the way it is implemented.

The party's position on the cap - equivalent to the average salary of a working household - came under attack at Prime Minister's Questions.

Mr Cameron repeatedly pressed Labour Leader Ed Miliband to say whether he would support the government, on what ministers say is a plan that has a lot of public support, accusing him of "complete silence" on the issue.

At the weekend, Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne said Labour would not be supporting the cap as it stood - because of concerns that it would force many families out of their homes.

He said the party would instead push for a local cap on benefits - to vary across the country and reflect different housing benefit rates - rather than one £500-a-week/£26,000-a-year cap across England, Scotland and Wales.

The cap is just one of seven areas where peers voted against the government.

MPs are now debating whether to back amendments made by peers, or throw them out - re-introducing aspects of the proposed legislation rejected by peers.

The government says it intends to overturn the following measures agreed by the Lords:

• Excluding child benefit from the £26,000 cap on total benefits to households
• Not charging single parents to access child maintenance if they take reasonable steps to reach a settlement
• Exempting cancer patients from means-testing of employment support allowance
• Extending eligibility for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) prior to means-testing from one to two years
• Allowing young disabled people to continue claiming National Insurance contribution-based ESA
• Exempting social tenants with one spare room from "under-occupancy" penalties

David Cameron taunted the Labour front bench and called for a reaction on welfare reforms

The government suffered its latest defeat on Tuesday when a coalition of crossbench and Labour peers - supported by two Conservatives and seven Lib Dems - voted to limit a proposed reduction to the lower rate of the "disabled child element" of Child Tax Credits.

A crossbench amendment tabled by Baroness Meacher calling for the lower rate to be at least two-thirds of the value of the higher rate - which ministers want to raise to £77 a week - was passed by 16 votes.

The government says it wants to target support at the children with the highest care needs - and say there will be transitional protection so those already in receipt of the benefit will not lose money.

But SDLP MP Margaret Ritchie said at prime minister's questions it would hit working people facing severe financial difficulties - and could cost them over £1,300 a year.

Mr Byrne says Labour was determined to force the government to change the bill.

"Welfare to work needs jobs - and this bill doesn't create a single one," he said.

"Instead it cuts support for people trying to do the right thing, like mums trying to go back to work and families trying to save, and quite frankly it crosses a line of basic British decency."

Ministers say the public backs the principle of not paying any household more in benefits than the average weekly wage of working families.

Continue Reading... Labels: changes, fair, welfare

Speed up tax changes, urges Clegg

25 January 2012 Last updated at 19:48 ET

Mr Clegg says voters want economic competence - and some compassion

Nick Clegg will say later that he wants the coalition government to go "further and faster" in raising the pay level at which people start paying income tax to £10,000 a year.

The deputy prime minister will argue that many families are at financial "boiling point" and need more relief.

The coalition has promised to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000 by the next election, set for 2015.

Labour said Mr Clegg had "a cheek preaching about fairness and tax".

The deputy PM's speech to the Resolution Foundation in London follows official figures showing the economy shrank by 0.2% in the final quarter of 2011.

It also comes ahead of the Budget on 21 March, increasing speculation that changes to tax thresholds could be announced.

Left vs right

Mr Clegg will aim to set out a distinctive Liberal Democrat fiscal position by highlighting differences with the party's Conservative coalition partners.

He will say that those on the right in politics place "less of an emphasis on using the tax system to create greater equality".

He will also attack Labour by saying the "traditional left" supports a "penal rate on the highest earners, simply because it makes them poorer".

At the last election, the Lib Dems pledged to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000 a year and the coalition agreed to implement this policy over the course of this Parliament.

The income tax threshold was raised by £1,000 to £7,475 in the 2010 Budget, and the government plans to increase it further to £8,105 this year.

But Mr Clegg is expected to say: "Today I want to make clear that I want the coalition to go further and faster in delivering the full £10,000 allowance, because the pressure on family finances is reaching boiling point.

"These families have seen their earnings in relative decline for a decade, compared to those at the top. That has accelerated since 2008, with lower real wages and fewer hours at work."

He will argue that the coalition has raised capital gains tax and reduced tax breaks on pension funds "for the very rich", while "clamping down" on tax avoiders to raise an extra £7bn a year.

'Fair tax cuts'

Mr Clegg will also reiterate his commitment to the coalition's aim of ending the UK's deficit, but will promise to do so "in a way that is fair".

"People look to the Liberal Democrats to keep this coalition anchored in the centre ground. They want economic competence, but they want compassion too.

"It is our job to make sure this government delivers both."

Owen Smith, Labour's shadow Exchequer secretary, said: "This is the man who campaigned against a rise in VAT and then introduced it just after he got elected. And his government's Autumn Statement took three times more from families with children than from the banks.

"For the last year Labour has been arguing for fair tax cuts, such as a temporary cut in VAT, to help hard-pressed families and pensioners and kickstart our stalled economy. And we want to see a tax on bank bonuses at the top to fund 100,000 jobs for young people.

"Now that the economy has gone into reverse, these measures should be part of a real plan for jobs and growth in the next Budget."

Continue Reading... Labels: changes, Clegg, Speed, urges

Abortion, immigration changes among new 2012 laws

Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.

Many laws reflect the nation's concerns over immigration, the cost of government and the best way to protect and benefit young people, including regulations on sports concussions.

Alabama, with the country's toughest immigration law, is enacting a key provision requiring all employers who do business with any government entity to use a federal system known as E-Verify to check that all new employees are in the country legally.

Georgia is putting a similar law into effect requiring any business with 500 or more employees to use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of new hires. The requirement is being phased in, with all employers with more than 10 employees to be included by July 2013.

Supporters said they wanted to deter illegal immigrants from coming to Georgia by making it tougher for them to work. Critics said that changes to immigration law should come at the federal level and that portions of the law already in effect are already hurting Georgia.

"It is destroying Georgia's economy and it is destroying the fabric of our social network in South Georgia," Paul Bridges, mayor of the onion-farming town of Uvalda, said in November. He is part of a lawsuit challenging the new law.

Tennessee will also require businesses to ensure employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. but exempts employers with five or fewer workers and allows them to keep a copy of the new hire's driver's license instead of using E-Verify.

A South Carolina law would allow officials to yank the operating licenses of businesses that don't check new hires' legal status through E-verify. A federal judge last week blocked parts of the law that would have required police to check the immigration status of criminal suspects or people stopped for traffic violations they think might be in the country illegally, and that would have made it a crime for illegal immigrants to transport or house themselves.

California is also addressing illegal immigration, but with a bill that allows students who entered the country illegally to receive private financial aid at public colleges.

Many laws aim to protect young people. In Colorado, coaches will be required to bench players as young as 11 when they're believed to have suffered a head injury. The young athletes will also need medical clearance to return to play.

The law also requires coaches in public and private schools and even volunteer Little League and Pop Warner football coaches to take free annual online training to recognize the symptoms of a concussion. At least a dozen other states have enacted similar laws with the support of the National Football League.

People 18 and under in Illinois will have to wear seat belts while riding in taxis for school-related purposes, and Illinois school boards can now suspend or expel students who make explicit threats on websites against other students or school employees.

Florida will take control of lunch and other school food programs from the federal government, allowing the state to put more Florida-grown fresh fruit and vegetables on school menus. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam says the change will help children eat healthier.

A California law will add gays and lesbians and people with disabilities to the list of social and ethnic groups whose contributions must be taught in history lessons in public schools. The law also bans teaching materials that reflect poorly on gays or particular religions.

Opponents have filed five potential initiatives to repeal the requirement outright or let parents remove their children while gays' contributions are being taught.

In New Hampshire, a law requiring girls seeking abortions to tell their parents or a judge first was reinstated by conservative Republicans over a gubernatorial veto. The state enacted a similar law eight years ago, but it was never enforced following a series of lawsuits.

In Arkansas, facilities that perform 10 or more nonsurgical abortions a month must be licensed by the state Health Department and be subject to inspections by the department, the same requirements faced by facilities that offer surgical abortions in the state.

It affects two Planned Parenthood facilities that offer the abortion pill, though they're not singled out in the statute.

Among federal laws, a measure Congress passed last week to extend Social Security tax cuts and federal unemployment benefit programs raises insurance fees on new mortgages and refinancings backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by 0.1 percent beginning Jan. 1.

That covers about 90 percent of them and effectively makes a borrower's monthly payment on a new $200,000 mortgage or refinancing about $17 a month more than it would have been if obtained before the first of the year.

Nevada's 3-month old ban on texting while driving will get tougher, with tickets replacing the warnings that police have issued since the ban took effect Oct. 1. In Pennsylvania, police are preparing to enforce that state's recently enacted ban on texting, scheduled to take effect by spring.

Election law changes in Rhode Island and Tennessee will require voters to present photo ID, a measure that supporters say prevents fraud and that opponents say will make it harder for minorities and the elderly to cast ballots.

In Ohio, a measure that creates one primary in March, instead of two that would have cost the state an extra $15 million, goes into effect later in January.

Ohio is also one of eight states with automatic increases in the minimum wage taking effect Jan. 1. The others, with increases between 28 and 37 cents, are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

A few laws try to address budget woes. In Delaware, new state employees will have to contribute more to their pensions, while state workers hired after Jan. 1 in Nevada will have to pony up for their own health care costs in retirement.

Jan. 1 is the effective date in many states for laws passed during this year's legislative sessions. In others, laws take effect July 1, or 90 days after passage.

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Welsh-Huggins reported from Columbus, Ohio, and can be reached at http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.

Continue Reading... Labels: Abortion, among, changes, immigration