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Conservatives voice tax credit doubts ahead of Commons debate MP Heidi Allen warns tax credit cuts 'betray' Tory values
(about 4 hours later)
Tory MPs have continued to voice doubts about proposed cuts to tax credits as the Commons debates the issue. A Tory MP has said her party risks betraying its values as she voiced her opposition to tax credit cuts.
Stephen McPartland told the BBC that people trying to get on in life faced losing 10% of income and were being "punished" rather than rewarded. Heidi Allen suggested ministers were losing sight of the difficulties of working people in their "single-minded determination to achieve a surplus".
He said he expected Chancellor George Osborne to mitigate the financial impact before the end of the year. Urging help for affected families, she said "true Conservatives had compassion running through their veins".
The government is standing by the changes, saying these and other reforms will save taxpayers £15bn a year.The government is standing by the changes, saying these and other reforms will save taxpayers £15bn a year.
From April, the threshold at which tax credits begin to be withdrawn will fall from £6,420 to £3,850, and people's credit entitlement over this amount will be reduced more steeply.From April, the threshold at which tax credits begin to be withdrawn will fall from £6,420 to £3,850, and people's credit entitlement over this amount will be reduced more steeply.
Millions of people are due to learn how much money they will lose in letters received shortly before Christmas.Millions of people are due to learn how much money they will lose in letters received shortly before Christmas.
The government says people's incomes will be protected by other measures, including the new National Living Wage, increased free childcare and a larger personal income tax allowance.The government says people's incomes will be protected by other measures, including the new National Living Wage, increased free childcare and a larger personal income tax allowance.
'Way out of poverty' 'Not a spreadsheet'
But a growing number of Tory MPs say they are not satisfied with this and want "transitional" arrangements to be put in place to help those affected.But a growing number of Tory MPs say they are not satisfied with this and want "transitional" arrangements to be put in place to help those affected.
James Cartlidge, MP for Suffolk South, told Radio 5Live some people would be left in a "very vulnerable position". "The worst thing we can do here to try and pretend that some people will not be worse off," he added. "I think that's a mistake". In her maiden speech in the Commons during a Labour debate on tax credits, Ms Allen, the MP for South Cambridgeshire, said she supported the principle of reducing reliance on the state but feared the way the government was going about it was all wrong.
And Mr McPartland, one of two Tory MPs to vote against the changes when they were approved last month, said that while he agreed with the need to overhaul tax credits he did not support how it was being done.
"When you look at the original change to the threshold… that's going to be a £1,200 cut to a range of families," he told the BBC's Daily Politics.
"So if you're a teaching assistant on about £11,000 a year you're talking about a 10% loss in your income. That's punishing people who get up and go out to work, and are trying to work their way out of poverty, that we should be rewarding."
BackgroundBackground
Tax credits debate: Finding your wayTax credits debate: Finding your way
MPs are debating the issue in the House of Commons at the moment, with Labour urging Tory MPs to back its motion calling for a rethink. She said her party must not treat it as "a spreadsheet exercise" since many of those affected would not be able to cope and faced a stark choice of between heating their homes and putting food on their tables.
While this is unlikely, some MPs could use the occasion to increase the pressure on the government to rethink their implementation. "It is right that people are encouraged to strive for self-reliance and find work that pays for their independence from the state but I worry that our single-minded determination to reach a budget surplus is betraying who were are," she said.
Mr McPartland said he hoped Mr Osborne would address the issue and, if not, expected him to take action in next month's Autumn Statement, which will be delivered on the same day as the government's spending review. "Today every Conservative member who knows who we really are has a duty to remind those who have forgotten. We are the party of the working person...who strives to provide for themselves and their family with pride."
He added: "When you actually look at the effect it is going to have on those people that get up and go to work, those people we believe that the Labour Party has left behind, the effect on them is one the chancellor is going to want to mitigate and calm down." The government, she said, had a responsibility "to support the people through that change", adding: "I am not interested in the colour of the party that created a bloated welfare state. That is in the past but I do know one thing - it is not the fault of the recipients of tax credits.
'Going to backfire' "To pull ourselves out of debt, we should not be forcing those working families into it."
'Something, anything'
Labour is urging Tory MPs to back its motion calling for a rethink but while this is unlikely, several MPs have used the occasion to increase the pressure on the government to rethink how they are introduced.
Conservative Johnny Mercer urged the chancellor to do "something, anything" to ease the "harshest" effects of the cuts on vulnerable people.
"My duty, and indeed our duty is to shout for the most vulnerable," he said.
"Those who through no fault of their own find themselves on the fringes of society, those who through a bit of bad luck, a couple of wrong decisions can be any one of us."
Labour has accused the Conservatives of deceiving the public after ministers made repeated statements during the election campaign insisting that tax credits were not going to fall in value.Labour has accused the Conservatives of deceiving the public after ministers made repeated statements during the election campaign insisting that tax credits were not going to fall in value.
"It is going to backfire because what George Osborne is doing essentially is choosing between the working poor and the non working poor when what he should be doing, if he is trying to balance the books, is making sure we can grow the economy," said shadow Treasury minister Seema Malhotra. As pressure mounts on the government, cross-bench peer Baroness Meacher is tabling a so-called "fatal motion" for next Monday in an attempt to kill off the changes in the House of Lords, where the government does not have a majority.
The Lords cannot interfere in the government's Finance Bill but the tax credit cuts are contained in a separate piece of legislation and the Huffington Post reported that should they be blocked, it could prompt calls for peers' powers to be curbed and even for the Lords to be "suspended".The Lords cannot interfere in the government's Finance Bill but the tax credit cuts are contained in a separate piece of legislation and the Huffington Post reported that should they be blocked, it could prompt calls for peers' powers to be curbed and even for the Lords to be "suspended".
Cross-bench peer Baroness Meacher is tabling a so-called "fatal motion" for next Monday in an attempt to kill off the changes in the House of Lords, where the government does not have a majority.
The BBC's John Pienaar said Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords will be formally instructed to vote down the government's plans, despite fears among senior peers that a veto could provoke a government backlash, and even constitutional retaliation against the unelected chamber.The BBC's John Pienaar said Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords will be formally instructed to vote down the government's plans, despite fears among senior peers that a veto could provoke a government backlash, and even constitutional retaliation against the unelected chamber.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said those on lower incomes will be more affected by the cutbacks than any welfare change since 2010 but its director Paul Johnson told Today that, even so, the tax credit system would remain "far more generous" than it was in 1997.The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said those on lower incomes will be more affected by the cutbacks than any welfare change since 2010 but its director Paul Johnson told Today that, even so, the tax credit system would remain "far more generous" than it was in 1997.
"Wherever we end up in 2017... the total level of spending is back to about 2003 levels, not back to a world before tax credits," he said.
How will you be affected by cuts to tax credits? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.How will you be affected by cuts to tax credits? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.
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