Southport MP Patrick Hurley says he is “committed to working to address child poverty” after he supported the Labour Government in voting an against an amendment to end the two-child benefit cap.
Mr Hurley said he is “glad to see the ambitious child poverty strategy that Labour has committed to” but said that making the changes needed “will take time”.
He said: “I am deeply committed to working with the Labour government to address child poverty and improve the life chances of children living in poverty. The last Labour government took over half a million children out of poverty – and lifted millions of children out of absolute poverty overall. In contrast, under the Conservatives, the number of children in poverty has risen by 700,000 – with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family.
“We’ll be turning the tables on this, but it will take time.
“The Attlee government took three years to create the NHS, and four years to create NATO. Some of the Wilson government’s main achievements were passed into law so late that they only took effect after they’d left government. And the Minimum Wage didn’t come into place until April 1999, two years after Labour last entered government. Similarly, it’s going to take us time to fix the foundations of our country’s wrecked economy before we can do all the things we want to do. While it’s right to have high expectations of a new government after the dreadful mess of the last 14 years, it’s still the case that last week’s King’s Speech was the most ambitious in terms of legislation for 20 years. And all this despite the worst economic inheritance for a new government in the post-second world war era.
“I am glad to see the ambitious child poverty strategy that Labour has committed to, as well as the series of concrete and significant actions in our manifesto to support children and families.
“These include free breakfast clubs in every primary school, expanding government-funded childcare, cutting school uniform costs, placing Young Futures hubs in every community, renters reform to give families security and delivering our Child Health Action Plan.
“This government has a Mission to create and spread opportunity for every child and young person in our country. Living in poverty scars children’s lives and their futures, this Labour government will bring the change our children need.”
Sefton Council Conservative Leader Cllr Mike Prendergast meanwhile, agreed with the decision, saying that “higher taxes on local residents and businesses to fund the scrapping of the two child benefit cap” is not something he agrees with.
Councillor Prendergast said, “We all want to see children lifted out of poverty but you cannot tax poverty away or raise living standards by taking more of the money that people earn off them.
“The way to tackle child poverty and improve living standards is to grow our economy and create more of the high paying high skilled jobs that we need in our local area.
“Not every problem can be solved by more taxes.
“The estimated £3 billion cost of the measure, if it went ahead, would fall on the shoulders of hard working people across the country, including people and businesses here in Southport.
“The benefits system is there as a safety net but it is not the job of the state to pay for every child. While the state has a role to play in providing that safety net in difficult times, it’s ultimately the job of parents to provide for their children.
“Supporting wealth creation and growth is the key to increasing prosperity and alleviating child poverty, not more tax. Across Southport and the wider area we have a wealth of talent and potential and we shouldn’t stymie that with a tax raid to pay more benefits.
“There are certainly conversations to be had, by politicians at all levels, about making the tax system more family friendly, rewarding hard work with lower taxes and improving access to high quality childcare but simply advocating that people pay more tax to pay more benefits is not the answer.
“As Conservatives, we will be advocating for growth in our local economy and,we won’t be supporting any calls to increase the tax burden on local families and businesses to pay more benefits.”
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