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This is not the first time cutting benefits has been suggested as a punishment. How are the government proposing to punish parents who don't tackle truancy efficiently that aren't on benefits exactly? Just like the assertion that the rioters should lose benefits, yes because they were ALL on benefits weren't they? 
Once again the government fuels the totally untrue daily mail esque belief that all of society's ills lie at the feet of benefits claimants. Apparently they are the root of all evil, eh? 
Not one of the policies publicised has said what would happen to those who do not claim benefits.
Money designed for basic sustenance should not be removed imo. At the end of the day it is the children that will suffer from these measures.