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| Politics live blog: Thursday 5 April 2012 | Politics live blog: Thursday 5 April 2012 |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 10.51am: Here's the Guardian's Politics Weekly podcast. | |
| It features Andrew Adonis, Fiona Millar, Jessica Shepherd and Jeevan Vasagar discussing schools. | |
| 10.14am: We've had the Labour figures. Now it's time to hear what Treasury ministers have been saying about the tax changes coming into effect tomorrow. Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, and Chloe Smith, his Conservative Treasury minister colleague, have both been giving interviews. Here are the main points they have been making. I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome. • Alexander said the government was right to curb tax credit payments. | 10.14am: We've had the Labour figures. Now it's time to hear what Treasury ministers have been saying about the tax changes coming into effect tomorrow. Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, and Chloe Smith, his Conservative Treasury minister colleague, have both been giving interviews. Here are the main points they have been making. I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome. • Alexander said the government was right to curb tax credit payments. |
| We proposed as Liberal Democrats reforms to the tax credit system precisely for the reasons that we've seen a huge expansion in the cost of the tax credit system We'd reached a position where nine out of ten families were in receipt of these means-tested benefits. Listening to Ed Balls, you'd think we were taking it back to the £18bn figure they started with. In fact, we will still be spending this year £31.6bn on tax credits, effectively holding the amount of spending constant, making about £3.2bn of savings in real terms. | We proposed as Liberal Democrats reforms to the tax credit system precisely for the reasons that we've seen a huge expansion in the cost of the tax credit system We'd reached a position where nine out of ten families were in receipt of these means-tested benefits. Listening to Ed Balls, you'd think we were taking it back to the £18bn figure they started with. In fact, we will still be spending this year £31.6bn on tax credits, effectively holding the amount of spending constant, making about £3.2bn of savings in real terms. |
| • He said requiring a couple to work a total of 24 hours to receive the working tax credit was fair because a single parent has to work 16 hours to qualify. | • He said requiring a couple to work a total of 24 hours to receive the working tax credit was fair because a single parent has to work 16 hours to qualify. |
| I think you ask a single person to work two days a week before they get a tax credit, I think asking a couple to work three days a week between them is a reasonable position. | I think you ask a single person to work two days a week before they get a tax credit, I think asking a couple to work three days a week between them is a reasonable position. |
| • He said up to 24m people would benefit from the increase in the basic tax allowance. By the time the tax allowance reaches £10,000 - the target set by the coaltion - people will be saving £700 a year, he said. | • He said up to 24m people would benefit from the increase in the basic tax allowance. By the time the tax allowance reaches £10,000 - the target set by the coaltion - people will be saving £700 a year, he said. |
| • Smith said there would be 15 households gaining from the government's changes for every one losing. | • Smith said there would be 15 households gaining from the government's changes for every one losing. |
| What's happening here is that actually, from tomorrow and when all these changes come into place, you've got 24m households who are better off, which is very good news. Actually, 15 times as many gain from these changes as lose. The average household will gain £5.50 a week. | What's happening here is that actually, from tomorrow and when all these changes come into place, you've got 24m households who are better off, which is very good news. Actually, 15 times as many gain from these changes as lose. The average household will gain £5.50 a week. |
| 9.31am: Ed Balls has been on the offensive today, saying that the tax measures coming into force tomorrow (the start of the new tax year) will hammer families. We've covered his claims in the paper today, but Labour have also sent out a detailed briefing note and it is worth posting his figures in full. | 9.31am: Ed Balls has been on the offensive today, saying that the tax measures coming into force tomorrow (the start of the new tax year) will hammer families. We've covered his claims in the paper today, but Labour have also sent out a detailed briefing note and it is worth posting his figures in full. |
| Labour are making three main claims. | Labour are making three main claims. |
| • Families with children will lose on average £511 as a result of the changes coming into force in April 2012. This is all families with children, not just those on tax credits. Labour have taken the figure from this chart from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (pdf). It's a chart the IFS produced after the budget, but Labour asked them to put a cash figure on the 1.3% loss in annual net household income for families with children. | • Families with children will lose on average £511 as a result of the changes coming into force in April 2012. This is all families with children, not just those on tax credits. Labour have taken the figure from this chart from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (pdf). It's a chart the IFS produced after the budget, but Labour asked them to put a cash figure on the 1.3% loss in annual net household income for families with children. |
| • Around 850,000 families will lose around £545 because they will no longer be eligible for the child tax credit. This is because the income limit for child tax credit is being cut from around £40,000 to around £26,000 for a family with one child. Further details of how this will work are on the HM Revenue and Customs website. Using this answer to a parliamentary question, Labour say 852,900 household will be affected. | • Around 850,000 families will lose around £545 because they will no longer be eligible for the child tax credit. This is because the income limit for child tax credit is being cut from around £40,000 to around £26,000 for a family with one child. Further details of how this will work are on the HM Revenue and Customs website. Using this answer to a parliamentary question, Labour say 852,900 household will be affected. |
| • Up to 212,000 families could lose almost £4,000 a year from working tax credit if they do not increase their hours. These are working couples with children earning less than around £17,000 a year who will be hit by the government's decision to make them work a combined total of 24 hours a week, instead of 16 hours a week, to be eligible for the tax credit. Some of them may be able to increase their working hours. But, with unemployment high, Labour believe that most of them won't. Further details of how this will work are on the HM Revenue and Customs website. | • Up to 212,000 families could lose almost £4,000 a year from working tax credit if they do not increase their hours. These are working couples with children earning less than around £17,000 a year who will be hit by the government's decision to make them work a combined total of 24 hours a week, instead of 16 hours a week, to be eligible for the tax credit. Some of them may be able to increase their working hours. But, with unemployment high, Labour believe that most of them won't. Further details of how this will work are on the HM Revenue and Customs website. |
| Labour have sent out a table showing how many families in each region will lose the child tax credit, how many could lose the working tax credit (because they work more than 16 hours but less than 24) and how many families could lose in total. HM Revenue and Customs have said that there is now overlap between the two groups, so the figures can be added together, giving a total of 1,064,900 families who will or could lose tax credits. | Labour have sent out a table showing how many families in each region will lose the child tax credit, how many could lose the working tax credit (because they work more than 16 hours but less than 24) and how many families could lose in total. HM Revenue and Customs have said that there is now overlap between the two groups, so the figures can be added together, giving a total of 1,064,900 families who will or could lose tax credits. |
| Here are the figures. | Here are the figures. |
| Region - Families losing child tax credit - Families potentially losing working tax credit - Total losing or potentially losing tax credits | Region - Families losing child tax credit - Families potentially losing working tax credit - Total losing or potentially losing tax credits |
| North East - 38,800 - 9,310 - 48,110 | North East - 38,800 - 9,310 - 48,110 |
| North West - 97,700 - 26,845 - 124,545 | North West - 97,700 - 26,845 - 124,545 |
| Yorkshire & Humber - 76,100 - 20,225 - 96,235 | Yorkshire & Humber - 76,100 - 20,225 - 96,235 |
| East Midlands - 68,700 - 14,080 - 82,780 | East Midlands - 68,700 - 14,080 - 82,780 |
| West Midlands - 79,200 - 22,675 - 101,875 | West Midlands - 79,200 - 22,675 - 101,875 |
| East of England - 84,800 - 14,215 - 99,015 | East of England - 84,800 - 14,215 - 99,015 |
| London - 72,600 - 46,205 - 118,805 | London - 72,600 - 46,205 - 118,805 |
| South East - 114,600 - 17,260 - 131,860 | South East - 114,600 - 17,260 - 131,860 |
| South West - 78,800 - 12,915 - 91,715 | South West - 78,800 - 12,915 - 91,715 |
| Wales - 43,500 - 9,380 - 52,880 | Wales - 43,500 - 9,380 - 52,880 |
| Scotland - 73,300 - 11,370 - 84,670 | Scotland - 73,300 - 11,370 - 84,670 |
| Northern Ireland - 22,500 - 4,805 - 27,305 | Northern Ireland - 22,500 - 4,805 - 27,305 |
| Foreign /Unknown - 2,300 - 0 - 2,300 | Foreign /Unknown - 2,300 - 0 - 2,300 |
| Total - 852,900 - 212,000 - 1,064,900 | Total - 852,900 - 212,000 - 1,064,900 |
| Labour have also sent out some quotes from David Cameron before the election saying the Tories would not take tax credits away from those on low incomes. | Labour have also sent out some quotes from David Cameron before the election saying the Tories would not take tax credits away from those on low incomes. |
| This is what Cameron said during the leaders' debate on 29 April 2010. | This is what Cameron said during the leaders' debate on 29 April 2010. |
On this issue of tax credits, we are saying, we like tax credits, we'll keep tax credits. But for families earning over £50,000, we think we can't afford the child tax credit. That's one of the savings that we're being upfront and frank about. But for Gordon Brown to say that actually the changes we're making would hit low income families is simply not true. | On this issue of tax credits, we are saying, we like tax credits, we'll keep tax credits. But for families earning over £50,000, we think we can't afford the child tax credit. That's one of the savings that we're being upfront and frank about. But for Gordon Brown to say that actually the changes we're making would hit low income families is simply not true. |
| And this is what he said on a discussion on Mumsnet on 19 November 2009. | And this is what he said on a discussion on Mumsnet on 19 November 2009. |
Shineoncrazydiamond and others who asked about tax credits, here's a straight, non-waffle answer. As a part time worker and a lone parent, you should not lose out. We recognise that tax credits help families, that's why we introduced the first one way back in the 1990s. We would stop the payment of tested tax credits to families of incomes of more than £50,000. We've got a massive debt crisis in this country, and so I think that those payments aren't really affordable any more. | Shineoncrazydiamond and others who asked about tax credits, here's a straight, non-waffle answer. As a part time worker and a lone parent, you should not lose out. We recognise that tax credits help families, that's why we introduced the first one way back in the 1990s. We would stop the payment of tested tax credits to families of incomes of more than £50,000. We've got a massive debt crisis in this country, and so I think that those payments aren't really affordable any more. |
| 9.00am: With the budget, pastygate, the fuel shortage, secret courts and internet surveillance, Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has had the rare pleasure of not being sitting under the media gunge tank for the last fortnight or so. But not anymore. It has emerged that his decision to order emergency inspections of abortion clinics led to the Care Quality Commission, the healthcare regulator, having to cancel nearly 600 other inspections, and there are now claims that his intervention was largely designed to improve his reputation with the Tory right. My colleague Randeep Ramesh has a story about this in today's paper. And the Today programme has been pursuing the story aggressively today. This is what Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, told the programme. | 9.00am: With the budget, pastygate, the fuel shortage, secret courts and internet surveillance, Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has had the rare pleasure of not being sitting under the media gunge tank for the last fortnight or so. But not anymore. It has emerged that his decision to order emergency inspections of abortion clinics led to the Care Quality Commission, the healthcare regulator, having to cancel nearly 600 other inspections, and there are now claims that his intervention was largely designed to improve his reputation with the Tory right. My colleague Randeep Ramesh has a story about this in today's paper. And the Today programme has been pursuing the story aggressively today. This is what Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, told the programme. |
| The surprising thing is, in the middle of this inspection programme, the secretary of state communicated his findings to a newspaper before the inspection was complete and, indeed, before any statement had been made to parliament ... It's hard not to draw the conclusion that the health secretary was desperately trying to get on the front foot. Nothing else explains why he gve the findings to a newspaper midway through this programme of visits that he ordered, and you may remember that this was the day when the home secretary had been brought to the Commons to make a statement on alcohol. | The surprising thing is, in the middle of this inspection programme, the secretary of state communicated his findings to a newspaper before the inspection was complete and, indeed, before any statement had been made to parliament ... It's hard not to draw the conclusion that the health secretary was desperately trying to get on the front foot. Nothing else explains why he gve the findings to a newspaper midway through this programme of visits that he ordered, and you may remember that this was the day when the home secretary had been brought to the Commons to make a statement on alcohol. |
| More worryingly for Lansley, Stephen Dorrell, the Conservative chairman of the Commons health committee, also questioned his conduct. Dorrell suggested that the CQC should not be taking orders from the health secretary. | More worryingly for Lansley, Stephen Dorrell, the Conservative chairman of the Commons health committee, also questioned his conduct. Dorrell suggested that the CQC should not be taking orders from the health secretary. |
| I think we need to be clear whether the priorities of the regulator are genuinely determined independently by the CQC itself, or whether the priorities are determined by the secretary of state. Is it independent or is it not? I would argue it's very strongly in the public interest, as well actually as it being in the secretary of state's interest for it to be clearly established that the CQC is an independent regulator. | I think we need to be clear whether the priorities of the regulator are genuinely determined independently by the CQC itself, or whether the priorities are determined by the secretary of state. Is it independent or is it not? I would argue it's very strongly in the public interest, as well actually as it being in the secretary of state's interest for it to be clearly established that the CQC is an independent regulator. |
| I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome. If there are any further developments, I'll be following them today. | I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome. If there are any further developments, I'll be following them today. |
| Otherwise, it is quiet, as you would expect on the day before the Easter holiday starts. Labour are highlighting the fact that one million families could lose out from changes to tax credits coming into force from tomorrow. We've covered this in the paper, but the story is still running today and I'll be posting more about it. If there are any breaking political stories I'll be covering them, and, as usual, I'll be looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm. | Otherwise, it is quiet, as you would expect on the day before the Easter holiday starts. Labour are highlighting the fact that one million families could lose out from changes to tax credits coming into force from tomorrow. We've covered this in the paper, but the story is still running today and I'll be posting more about it. If there are any breaking political stories I'll be covering them, and, as usual, I'll be looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm. |
| If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. | If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. |
| And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. | And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. |