Finance (No. 2) Bill

Debate between Robin Walker and Sheila Gilmore

Thursday 18th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Walker]

I will certainly urge my party to adopt a similar position. Raising the threshold to £11,500 or £12,000 in future Budgets would help millions more people and provide further stimulus. That, along with other policies that my party supports, and which the Liberal Democrats do not always support, such as keeping a freeze on council tax, could make a real difference. Raising the threshold would extend the legacy of that valuable change and do even more to make work pay. I urge Ministers to consider it for the future and commend them on the difficult job that they are doing well.

[Sheila Gilmore]

The hon. Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) has perpetuated some of the myths about some of the last Government’s policies. For example, he suggested that it would be better to put money into early intervention—presumably, that would involve paying things such as tax credits. Of course, it was not an either/or.

Anyone looking at the setting up of Sure Start and all the reports that were done on the importance of early intervention would see that we did not think, as is sometimes suggested, that the only solution to deprivation, child poverty and so on was simply to put money in. Money is part of the issue, but we certainly did not see things in terms of either/or. All the people up and down the country who have seen reductions in Sure Start services, for example, see that now it is not only not either/or—in many cases, it is neither/nor.

It is all very well for the Government to say, “We’re leaving you your own money so that is fine,” but the bottom line is that people have less money in their pockets. What has been suggested is a give-away in income tax is more than balanced, for many low-paid workers, by the reduction in tax credits and other provision. What matters to those people is how much they have to spend. Saying, “Oh, it’s wonderful that you’re getting to keep your own money” is no use. They cannot necessarily buy the things that they need.

The situation with child care is similar. The hon. Member for Worcester was right to say that the Government measure on that is not coming in right now; moreover, many people have already seen a cut in help. Child care tax credits were cut by the Government for many low-paid working families, so it has already happened.

The tax credits system was particularly beneficial for single parents, over 350,000 of whom went into employment as a direct result. There are serious concerns about universal credit as the answer to all this, particularly for single parents. Gingerbread and other organisations representing single parents have pointed out that their position could be worse under universal credit.