In the Commons: Cameron defends tax credit cuts

22 October 2015

Cameron has warned the House of Lords not to oppose the cuts to tax credits that are set to leave thousands of working families much worse off.

He said; “I think the House of Lords should listen…very carefully and recognise it is for this House to make financial decisions and it is for the other House to revise other legislation”.

Corbyn noted Cameron’s “strange change of mind” over the issue of tax credit cuts. He asked; “Is there any reason this change has come about or any reason why we should believe the PM on any assurances he gives?”

Labour MP Seema Malhotra, who moved the motion, said; “The Chancellor decides to cut tax credits at the same as cutting income tax and inheritance tax for some of the wealthiest in our society. His failure to grow wages in the last Parliament not only led to a drop in living standards, but meant that tax receipts were lower than they would otherwise have been. In addition, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies has highlighted, welfare spending was virtually unchanged during the last Parliament because of the growth in tax credit payments and the explosion in housing benefit payments caused by his low-wage economy. Indeed, the number of people earning less the living wage has risen by 45% since 2009. The Government may seek to hide what they are doing and to make this a debate about the Labour party, but it is a debate about the quality of life for millions of families who are working hard to make ends meet”.


You can sign the petition for the House of Lords to stop the tax credit cuts here.