George Osborne has delivered a slap in the face to working people on low pay with his threat of a freeze on benefits. It’s another Tory attack on the living standards of people working hard to support their families.
In his speech to the Tory conference, Osborne said he was targeting benefit claimants “of working age.” What he didn’t say was that at least half of those he wants to make poorer are people who are actually working.
Among the benefits Osborne wants to freeze are:
• Tax credits. Child Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits help to support millions of families.
• Local Housing Allowance for housing benefit. Working people who get help with their rent will suffer.
• Universal Credit. Ian Duncan-Smith’s disastrous new benefit will be frozen before most people even get it.
Andy Lewis of West Somerset Labour Party said:
“In West Somerset many people are on the minimum wage, often in seasonal or part time jobs. They rely on Tax Credits Child Benefit and Housing Benefit to make ends meet. The freeze threatened by Osborne would hit them hard.
“No benefit system is perfect. But Tax Credits (introduced by Labour) and Housing Benefit paid to working people encourage people to work if they can. Osborne’s policy is a cynical one – presumably based on the fact that the low paid don’t vote Tory.
“Labour wants to encourage people to work by increasing the Minimum Wage and promoting the Living Wage. Osborne’s speech has exposed Tory contempt for working people on low pay.”
They have once again lived down to all expectations. They pick on the poor with almost religious fervour, their sole aim is to dismantle the Welfare State and sell off the NHS to take this country back to the 1920s and 1930s. Bring on the next election, the Tories must be defeated soundly and hard as it will be the rebuilding of a fairer society can begin.