UK Politics

3137 readers

108 users here now

General Discussion for politics in the UK.
Please don't post to both [email protected] and [email protected] .
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric politics, and should be either a link to a reputable news source for news, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread. (These things should be publicly discussed)

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

[email protected] appears to have vanished! We can still see cached content from this link, but goodbye I guess! :'(

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Streeting explains why Labour disagrees with Braverman on ending child benefit cap (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Archive

Wes Streeting has defended his party’s policy not to scrap the cap on child benefit for just two children in each household.
[…]
Labour had been in favour of scrapping the child benefit cap but reversed on the proposal late last summer because shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said it was unaffordable, provoking huge anger and debate in the party.
[…]
[Ms Braverman wrote in The Daily Telegraph]: "The truth is that Conservatives should do more to support families and children on lower incomes... A crucial reform that Frank [Field] advocated was to scrap the two-child benefits limit, restricting child tax credits and universal credit to the first two children in a family. If they have a third or fourth child, a low-income family will lose about £3,200 per year.

"Over 400,000 families are affected and all the evidence suggests that it is not having the effect of increasing employment or alleviating poverty. Instead, it’s aggravating child poverty."

Mr Streeting told The Independent that poverty in the UK is forcing women to choose to have abortions because they cannot aford to keep the child.

But when The Independent asked him about Labour’s U-turn on scrapping the two child benefit cap, he insisisted that dealing with child poverty was “more than just about handouts”.
[…]
[He said]: "I also know that that the answer to child poverty, ultimately, is not simply about handouts, it is about a social security safety net, that also acts as a springboard that helps people into work and with good work that makes the cost of living affordable for everyone.

"That means that if you aren't doing the right thing, and earning a living and playing by the rules, that you don't just have enough to make ends meet, but you have enough to do the things that make life worth living. And we’re some way from that from that now."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah... I'm split on this.

On one hand, parents have to be the main caregivers and support for their children, meeting their needs. It's not practical or reasonable for all children to be entirely supported by the state.

Parents should absolutely make a reasonable best guess on whether they're able to care for a child and that has to include financial.

On the other hand, do we want a society where children are a luxury only affordable to the rich and wealthy? It's got shades of some really dark stuff from the 20th century.

Clearly the answer is that we need a society where anyone who wants children can get themselves into a place where they can take care of them. All the usual, a financial safety net, appreciate medical care, housing, etc. all the stuff we all know we're supposed to be working towards.