Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

We will not call a halt to the roll-out, because it would be unfair and wrong to deprive people in Scotland or elsewhere of the advantages that the universal credit system brings. We continue to work on improving processes and accelerating delivery, including with respect to housing, and a number of improvements have already been made, with more in train.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

Last week’s report by the Equality Trust illustrates just how extreme inequality is in the UK, with the average pay of chief executive officers of FTSE 100 companies standing at £5 million a year. From this April, families on low incomes who are claiming tax credits or universal credit will not receive support for the third and subsequent children in a family, except when the child is disabled. In that instance, however, the money will be withdrawn from one of the other children. Will the Government address this injustice and scrap the two-child limit?

[Damian Hinds]

The purpose of the limit on support through universal credit or tax credits to the first two children, in the case of new claims and new births, is to reduce our welfare spending and to target it in a particular way—[Interruption.] In some 85% of families that include children, there are one or two children. When it came to determining where necessary reductions must be made, this was the correct way of doing that.

The hon. Lady talks about rising inequality. I simply mention to her that inequality is down, and that household incomes are at a record level.