If you're really fed up of all "your" money going to benefits ....

@Yesimmoaningaboutbenefits , there are buses which run at night. Carers and nurses are employed outside the capital too. There needs to be a cap on the rent it’s possible to have paid for by benefits. Our benefits bill has the nation in a stranglehold.

I guess if you're just looking at burglary and robbery.

But amount of money lost through fraud would be the high net worth individuals??????

It was only a few weeks ago that there was another MP in the news for fiddling their tax accounts.

Rich people also commit crimes and the value of the crime proceeds is much higher.

Who put them there?

Osborne and his austerity.

I's not just a Labour claim either.

But you seem happy with children going hungry.

Well of course it is. People who have jobs and earn money are not going to go round at night fall trying to break into peoples homes are they? They don’t need to. And I’m talking of criminal behaviour involving burglaries and robbery. There are of course many many more crimes committed by all classes of society, but burglary in local communities are committed by those on minimal incomes.

@Happyjoe But, like it or not, it will lift children out of poverty.

Labour claim that it will lift 450,000 children out of poverty. But has no-one asked the question as to why they were in poverty in the first place?

If you can't feed 'em don't breed 'em, I say.

Meh government makes a bomb in tax on rental income. The country is bankrupt because of the interest payments on its debt. Providing more free housing is impossible and pointless.

This comment killed me 😂😂😂

No it isn’t down to society to take on parental responsibility roles. Maybe there should be better education for prospective parents around the fact that just because you want three children, if you can’t afford them, then it’s not a good idea. Maybe stick at two. I mean, it’s obvious to most people. I had two. Would have loved more, but I knew I couldn’t afford, even working full time. And then you have a family this morning on TV, she doesn’t work because she ‘can’t’, he works in a low paid job. They have four children, one being a baby, and are saying how relieved they are about the two child benefit cap being removed, because her and her husband have to go without food regularly just so the children could eat. Right there, everything that’s wrong with society and self entitlement.

Why are you not PM? I would vote for you.

How absolutely insulting.

So, it is always going to be the low paid and benefits class that commit more crime than anyone else.

Many working class people have a sense of pride and would rather eat shit than steal.

I imagine you're a patronising Labour voter- we must give these sorts of lower class people bread and circuses in order to keep society safe because don't ya know, the poor things have no moral code. We must pay the buggers to behave.

Disgraceful.

I remember the outrage when it was stopped! No governments can ever win.

But, like it or not, it will lift children out of poverty. Perhaps they should've said the 2-child benefit will start again with all children born in 9 months time. Then all an informed choice and the children that are here and now are helped.

It's not saying that people from poorer backgrounds have lower morals or "threaten" to turn to crime. I am saying that they are vulnerable to criminal organizations. If people are desperate enough and see no way out, they become easy pickings for those looking to turn them into petty criminals. Once in these organizations, it's hard to get out with all your limbs in tact.

People who are poor and have (or do not know) a way out of said poverty are at risk of being exploited. This exploitation can come from any corner, legal or otherwise.

Actually I don’t agree that we need more council homes. These homes cost money (and no the rent doesn’t cover the cost when you factor in building cost, maintenance etc). I would prefer people to have private affordable homes that they are responsible for.

We seem to be rapidly moving towards a situation where someone who works all their life and provides for themselves as regards housing etc will be no better off than someone who doesn’t work/works part time in retirement, infact the latter could be more comfortable esp if the former is private renting.

As regards the 2 child cap, in my view it is the parents who are putting their children in poverty. It’s no coincidence that mc working parents are stopping at 1 or 2 children when they are having to fund them themselves, amazing how vaste swathes seem to manage to not get pregnant. I don’t understand why people carry on having children. I would like the government to produce detailed stats on this ie location, working patterns etc.

As regards Sen, clearly needs more investment but the ferrying children to private schools at ££££ cost to the tax payer has to stop. It’s lovely having an education that meets all your child’s needs but unfortunately the majority don’t get their needs met and there should be a general accepted level. The money saved could be ploughed into staff and facilities in all schools.

But statistics do show that those from poorer backgrounds are the ones who burgle and rob. It is what it is. You don’t find many people who hold down full time work who turn to burglary, it’s usually done by people who earn nothing or very little who do it. It’s a choice - they want what other people have, but without having to work to get it.

I know EXACTLY what it is like to be in a family with four children with no money.

I also know EXACTLY what it's like to watch someone die of cancer within 6 months at working age and then watch his family have to rely on benefits.

You don't need six figures to have a family of four children if one parent is on £35k (average wage) and the other is on £50k, not unreasonable for a man at the peak of his career in his 50s.

Not that it matters or that you care, but I also have an undergraduate diploma in Economics so I also understand fiscal reality.

Britain is an undertaxed economy and much of the tax revenue is paid in housing costs because we don't provide social housing. It is disgusting that hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money is given to private equity and venture capitalists who run care homes for the elderly and children to make hundreds of millions of pounds of profit. It is disgusting that millions was wasted during Covid. It is disgusting that food bank use has soared from virtually nothing at the end of the last Labour government.

We should cut spending on private companies and private landlords and spend it on housing and caring for our population.

If you are not disgusted by nearly half a million children living in poverty because the Tory government introduced the two child cap then there is something wrong with you.

We should be proud of ensuring that children can grow up decently.

Not enough space or infrastructure or roads to keep on and on and on endlessly building homes.

People earning just £35k a year are ultimately going to be over £1k a year worse off because of frozen tax thresholds. So yes, as I am earning roughly that amount, I do object to my ‘taxes’ going to people to support children they can’t afford, and to people who choose to work part time to get hold of benefits. £35k isn’t much above what a family of five on a part time salary topped up with benefits and child benefit get, and I’m working my arse off full time. What’s fair about that?

In principle I totally agree. In practice, can you imagine the procurement/tender/contract process in today's world!

If it went anyway like HS2? I can imagine the budget overruns/stop start due to govt change/shoddy delivery.

I think governments on both sides are waiting for population/birthrate decline to play out and naturally reduce the need for more housing. At that point they hope that inter generational living will have been normalised.

Exactly we didn't have much growing up.

We were encouraged to work hard at school.

It is also very insulting to suggest that those who do not have money may also possess little morals and a tendency to criminal behaviour.

It did not happen to my parents-brought up in the 60s with bugger all. I am insulted on their behalf.

The males who appear to be absent from any conversation about ‘single mothers’ (not widows) need to be footing the bill for their offspring. Not the tax payer.

That sounds like a bit of blackmail to me.

Pay up or else all those who don't get their benefits will cause chaos. Why should they do that? Why wouldn't they get work and help themselves along or make use of the free education, health care and contraceptives that are on offer.

Many people, and there are probably a good few on this thread, were brought up in households with very little money-before these crazy amounts of benefits were a thing-and many of them-instead of turning to crime, forged a life for themselves.

If there is an underclass whom, as you seem to be suggesting, must have their benefits or else their children will become the scourge of society, then the the thing to do is threaten them with lawful punishments not pay them to behave.

I’m not talking topping up for those who aren’t earning enough but are working full time - we need cleaners, admin staff etc in large cities.

I think that is a problem with wages, not benefits.

How are there towns in the UK where over half the population is on benefits?

I can't think of another European country where wealth is so disproportionately concentrated in the Capital. What is it like in the country where you come from?

With regards to your post

'Other people's taxes' pay for lots of things though, including pensions for lots of people who don't need them.

Who are these people who don't need pensions?

Who are the people who are getting pensions without making any NI contributions or payments into a personal pension?