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Ministers seek to overturn peers' welfare bill changes Welfare changes are fair, says Cameron
(about 1 hour later)
  
The government will seek to overturn seven defeats inflicted by the House of Lords to its Welfare Reform Bill later. Prime Minister David Cameron has said welfare changes are "right and fair" and challenged Labour to support the government's benefit cap plan.
Ministers will urge the Commons to reject peers' amendments to the bill, including those to disability allowances proposed on Tuesday. The £26,000-a-year cap is one of seven areas on which the Welfare Reform Bill has suffered defeats in the Lords.
They will also rule out Labour calls to scrap a £26,000 benefits cap in favour of variable limits for different localities, calling them "unworkable". The bill has now returned to the Commons as ministers say they are determined to get their plans through.
Labour says the government needs to create jobs before cutting benefits. Labour say they support the benefit cap in principle - but want changes to the way it is implemented.
Far-reaching changes to welfare entitlements are needed, ministers argue, to help people out of dependency on the state, increase incentives for work and make the benefits system fair to both claimants and taxpayers. The party's position on the cap - equivalent to the average salary of a working household - came under attack at Prime Minister's Questions.
But campaigners say the proposals - which ministers also hope will save billions - risk pushing already vulnerable people into further hardship and distress. 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.
MPs will decide on Wednesday whether to back amendments to the bill made during its passage through the Lords, or throw them out - re-introducing aspects of the proposed legislation rejected by peers. 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.
Ministers, led by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, say they intend to overturn the following measures agreed by the Lords: 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
  • 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
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.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.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.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.
'Basic decency''Basic decency'
Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne MP said Labour was determined to force the government to change the bill. 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."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.""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.Ministers say the public backs the principle of not paying any household more in benefits than the average weekly wage of working families.
BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said Mr Duncan Smith would offer some transitional help, including aid for "vulnerable families" hit by the cap, to prevent children's education being disrupted.
Stand-off
He may also suggest a period of grace before the cap is imposed for some who have worked much of their lives.
"Some senior Lib Dem peers who've opposed the government's plans are ready to look closely at these proposals to see if they meet their concerns," our correspondent added.
Changes agreed by the Commons must return to the Lords for approval, raising the prospect of a stand-off between the two Houses on some issues. The process will continue until both Houses agree on the final text of the bill.
Anticipating this, Welfare Minister Lord Freud told peers on Tuesday "he did not think we have seen the last of the bill".