Labour suspends seven MPs over two-child benefit cap

[EasterIssland]

Several labour mps have voted in favour of snps request to remove the 2 child benefit cap and now they’ve* *had the whip suspended for six month.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c978m6z3egno

not the best beginning for this new government

So disappointed in this move. I have also slagged them off on Twitter. My MP (we live in a. Deprived area) voted 🗳️ against lifting cap. I have often slagged off the Tories over the years and will also do so with Labour. I had such hopes.
I know this is only one of many but it would make a huge difference in people's lives!

The priority needs to be increasing pay for public sector workers and improving services, not increasing benefits that already went up over 10% last year

We can't cut down council tax here. A 31% goes on social care, 35% on education. That leaves 33% for everything else. That's repeated across the country.

My friend would only work the 15 hours . Her husband had left her and the country. She wanted to work more but terrified of losing the cushion. I thought then it was stupid to stop the money if you worked more hours.

That was 30 years ago.

But there's other things that might have more of a positive impact on children's lives. There's nothing to indicate Labour don't care about children living in poverty, but they've been clear they want to review and cost options before committing- entirely sensible. Theses MPs walked right into the SNP trap which is a shame.

You are absolutely not looked down upon.
As someone who has thankfully just got out of working in Jobcentres after a long time, I can confirm that we view people like you who work full time, might be claiming help with childcare costs, totally differently to those not working when they could or deliberately working part time to work the system.

I've worked in this area for so long, I can remember when lone parents could sit on benefits not having to work until their youngest was 16!! How absolutely ridiculous! They would often then have another baby.

People might think that these people are made up by the Daily Mail but they are very real believe me.

I have watched families get smaller when the benefit cap and the 2 child cap came in. It used to be common to come across really big families and now you rarely see someone with more than 3 kids.

I've had pregnancies announced to me and when I've told them they won't get any more UC for another child, they've told me they will have to abort then.

With child benefit, before the cap, each child used to be worth an extra £110 a week to the claimants. One mother I used to see a few years ago was on £1000 a week because she had so many kids. Didn't work of course.

The UC claimants were so much better to work with than the ones who had come over from tax credits as they knew from the start they were expected to prepare for work when their baby was one and be in work by the time they were 3. Lots of them were already in work by that time anyway. The ex tax credits claimants had been used to working 16 hours even if they had a 15 Yr old and didn't like being told to increase their hours. The system was so much worse on tax credits.

Thankfully I am out of there now.

Corbyn made the Labour party unelectable. But what does that matter as long as you push your leftie theories. Common sense won the day. You don't get a pay rise from your employer for every extra child. So why should those on benefits.

I can't see that problem.

You get UC for up to two children.

If money is tight and you choose to have another you as the parents are putting the children you have into further financial strain no one else.

It's not the state's responsibility to pay for everyone's decisions

Just for balance:
Other end of life.
If you don't save for your retirement you know the state pension amount. That will be the money you have to work with.

If you want a functioning fair society then contribute not take take take.

There is a difference in supporting those in need as opposed to choices.

And there is a difference in supporting the basics, housing, food, bills not holidays and cars.

I agree living costs are far too high and wages are too low across the board.

I certainly wouldn’t look down on a single parent working full time who needs UC.

There is a problem with the system that so many full time workers need in-work benefits to pay rent etc .

The ex tax credits claimants had been used to working 16 hours even if they had a 15 Yr old and didn't like being told to increase their hours. The system was so much worse on tax credits.

@Grimg someone I knew from childhood still gets away with working only 16 hours and topping up with benefits and her kids are aged 12-17. She also didn’t work at all until her youngest turned 5. AFAIK she doesn’t have to increase her hours.

I’m curious - Is that because she’s been on benefits so long?

There are huge incentives to work part time. I had no idea that by doing this dc also get full maintenance loan at uni and a bursary too. They are better off than dc whose parents have to work full time to scrape together their contribution to dc. I’m probably thinking benefits should be tapered after dc get to 11. There should be an incentive to work, not an incentive not to work. At the moment working and associated costs is hard to take so a help to working families would be a review of childcare costs.

Exactly this!

The lack of personal responsibility that some people have towards the children that they bring into the world is shocking. They genuinely believe it's everybody else's job to pay for everything otherwise it's society's fault their children are growing up in poverty. Of course it isn't fair on the children, but the reality is that the parents have failed to provide for their own children if the state has to step in. It's a bit rich for thede same parents to then complain that their life choices (and yes it almost always is a life choice) aren't being subsidised enough by taxpayers who are probably struggling to find the childcare and costs associated with having their own kids.

So true @TizerorFizz the new government is talking about getting people back to work, but i think when they look at people completely out of work they need to start also looking at people who could be full-time but are working part time for the sake of benefits.

@DramaLlamaBangBang spot on. People need to make more responsible decisions. Having kids shouldn’t be your “how to get paid” plan.

Yes it's Keir showing his true colours. Completely NECESSARY and proves the point extremely well that he's willing to do what needs to be done to ensure his party is united and therefore can deliver on its promises.

The SNP could start by looking at their taxation, it’s ludicrous with the cost of living that higher rate starts being paid at £43,000 or something like that, no wonder so many people set up in England or just don’t bother working here

Party discipline. Now there's a novelty for the Labour Party.
These 7 were elected as Labour candidates and if they won't follow the Party line and vote accordingly, what use are they?

"Damn your principles! Stand by your Party!" Benjamin Disraeli.

Your definition of "hero" clearly differs from mine.

No the jobcentre will definitely be on her back to increase her hours. Only reason they wouldn't would be disability, caring for someone etc. Or if she's still on tax credits waiting to move over to UC.

Yep. And that's why I voted for him. The left of the Labour Party delivers nothing but Tory victory after Tory victory. Been the case since the days of Attlee.

I echo this

My children are adults so I'm a bit out of touch but have just realised what the so called "2 child benefit cap" actually means.
I thought it meant no-one got more than two lots of child benefit or any other benefit but in fact it's not that. If you have ten children you get ten lots of Child Benefit.
It's only means tested benefits such as UC that are capped.
There's a good explanation here

I have mixed feelings about this. It was introduced to incentivise work over benefits, but evidence has shown that those with exceptionally large families still tend to have both parents not working. Perhaps it could be re-introduced for families where one parent works full time.

Making the interview even more ridiculous because there's also an overall benefit cap. She wouldn't be getting the UC child element for all 7 children even if the 2 child limit was removed but no one will be questioning that because as a PP claimed we just want to make women and children suffer (or words to that effect)

Fair wages absolutely should be the priority and Labour are doing that.

1. She is possibly the most odious of the most odious Tories I have even seen. If you are advancing her as proof of anything, you have already lost.

2. she can say what the fuck she likes. It's not like she has any power here.

3. why wasn't she she saying this 4 weeks ago ?

and ... most pertinently

4. Why the fuck did she vote for it then ?

I didn't vote Labour, but I agree with Keir on this. There must be other ways to help with child poverty whilst also discouraging people from having more children that they can't afford.

Didn't they find that the bottom 20 percent of families very often had a disabled family member? Things like that are another way of looking into child poverty.

NMW is all good and needed but if you have one carer on £81 a week, you aren't even reaching NMW.

They need new ideas as well as the same old debates.