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Hunt: tax credit cuts will make Britons work like Chinese or Americans Hunt: tax credit cuts will make Britons work like Chinese or Americans
(about 3 hours later)
British people will learn how to work as hard as the Chinese and Americans because the Conservatives have cut the money people can make from tax credits, the health secretary has claimed. British people will be encouraged to work as hard as the Chinese and Americans because the Conservatives have cut the money people can make from tax credits, the health secretary said.
Jeremy Hunt, speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference, strayed from his brief to defend the government’s tax credit cuts of up to £1,300 for some of the poorest workers in the UK. Jeremy Hunt told a fringe event at the party’s autumn conference that cuts to tax credits were designed to send a “important cultural signal” about hard work, as well as saving money.
Hunt told his audience that reducing tax credits was not just about saving money, and when asked whether the pace of the cuts should be slowed, he said: “No. We have to proceed with these tax credit changes because they are a very important cultural signal. My wife is Chinese. We want this to be one of the most successful countries in the world in 20, 30, 40 years’ time. Embroiling his party in fresh controversy on the subject, Hunt also suggested those reliant on benefits lack the dignity and self-respect of those who earn all their own money, as he strayed from his usual brief to defend the government’s welfare changes.
Asked whether the pace of the tax credit cuts of up to £1,300 for some of the UK’s poorest workers should be slowed, the cabinet minster said: “No. We have to proceed with these tax credit changes because they are a very important cultural signal. My wife is Chinese. We want this to be one of the most successful countries in the world in 20, 30, 40 years’ time.
“There’s a pretty difficult question that we have to answer, which is essentially: are we going to be a country which is prepared to work hard in the way that Asian economies are prepared to work hard, in the way that Americans are prepared to work hard? And that is about creating a culture where work is at the heart of our success.”“There’s a pretty difficult question that we have to answer, which is essentially: are we going to be a country which is prepared to work hard in the way that Asian economies are prepared to work hard, in the way that Americans are prepared to work hard? And that is about creating a culture where work is at the heart of our success.”
Hunt also suggested in the interview that those reliant on tax credits and benefits lacked self-respect. “Dignity is not just about how much money you have got ... officially children are growing up in poverty if there is an income in that family of less than £16,500. What the Conservatives say is how that £16,500 is earned matters.Hunt also suggested in the interview that those reliant on tax credits and benefits lacked self-respect. “Dignity is not just about how much money you have got ... officially children are growing up in poverty if there is an income in that family of less than £16,500. What the Conservatives say is how that £16,500 is earned matters.
“It matters if you are earning that yourself, because if you are earning it yourself you are independent and that is the first step towards self-respect. If that £16,500 is either a high proportion or entirely through the benefit system you are trapped. It is about pathways to work, pathways to independence ... It is about creating a pathway to independence, self-respect and dignity.”“It matters if you are earning that yourself, because if you are earning it yourself you are independent and that is the first step towards self-respect. If that £16,500 is either a high proportion or entirely through the benefit system you are trapped. It is about pathways to work, pathways to independence ... It is about creating a pathway to independence, self-respect and dignity.”
Unease among some Tory MPs about the possible effect of the tax credit cuts, due to come into effect just before Christmas, has overshadowed the first two days of the conference. His comments provoked a furious response from Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, who said Hunt’s comments were a “disgraceful insult from the richest member of the cabinet to millions of people struggling to get by working hard for long hours in insecure employment”.
David Cameron insisted on Sunday that people would not be worse off and George Osborne, the chancellor, used his conference speech on Monday to claim that a typical family with parents working full time on the minimum wage would actually be £2,000 better off as a result of a host of changes, including wage increases. “In a country that already works some of the longest hours in the western world, these comments are simply an outrageous slur on the all too many workers juggling two and three jobs to put food on the table and a roof over their kids’ heads.”
Owen Smith, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, also said: “It is a kick in the teeth for working families to hear Jeremy Hunt patronisingly say that the reason they are struggling to pay the bills is because they are not working hard enough.”
However, Hunt stood by his words, claiming their intent had been “wilfully misinterpreted” by others.
“I made clear the culture we want to move to is one where work brings dignity and higher pay, and welfare dependency is reduced,” he said later. “There was never a suggestion that people don’t work hard enough, only that we need to remove the barriers to a high wage, low dependency economy, which the national living wage is designed to do.”
The issue of tax credits has dominated the first few days of Conservative party conference, with a number of Tory MPs uneasy about their impact on low earners.
David Cameron insisted on Sunday that people would not be worse off as a result of the changes, and George Osborne, the chancellor, used his conference speech on Monday to claim that a typical family with parents working full time on the minimum wage would actually be £2,000 better off as a result of a host of changes, including wage increases.
But the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Resolution Foundation say the welfare cuts in Osborne’s summer budget will leave some of Britain’s poorest families up to £1,300 a year out of pocket.But the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Resolution Foundation say the welfare cuts in Osborne’s summer budget will leave some of Britain’s poorest families up to £1,300 a year out of pocket.
Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, said Hunt’s comments were a “disgraceful insult from the richest member of the cabinet to millions of people struggling to get by working hard for long hours in insecure employment”. Paul Johnson, the director of the IFS, has said it is “arithmetically impossible” for workers not to lose out from the cuts.
“In a country that already works some of the longest hours in the western world, these comments are simply an outrageous slur on the all too many workers juggling two and three jobs to put food on the table and a roof over their kids’ heads. A number of Tory ministers have been dispatched to fringe meetings and on the airwaves to defend the cuts. However, Hunt’s intervention is not likely to be seen as helpful at a time when senior Tories try to defuse the row over whether millions of the poorest workers are going to lose money.
“He should get his facts straight before he decides to kick this country’s working people firmly in the teeth.
“His comments put paid once and for all the Tories’ ludicrous claims to represent hard-working families.”
A number of ministers have been dispatched to fringe meetings and on the airwaves to defend the cuts. However, Hunt’s intervention is not likely to be seen as helpful at a time when senior Tories try to defuse the row over whether the poorest workers are going to lose money.
There had been speculation that Cameron and Osborne would have to announce some measures to soften the blow in the autumn statement, especially as the Sun newspaper has come out against the harshness of the changes.There had been speculation that Cameron and Osborne would have to announce some measures to soften the blow in the autumn statement, especially as the Sun newspaper has come out against the harshness of the changes.