High-earners to lose child benefit
By politics.co.uk staff
George Osborne has confirmed plans to withdraw child benefit for Britain’s top-earning families.
The chancellor, speaking ahead of his speech to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, blamed Labour’s debts for the step, which was backed by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg during the general election campaign.
It means parents who earn over £44,000 will lose the payout altogether, affecting about 15% of Britain’s families.
“It’s very hard to justify taxing people on much lower incomes in order to pay the child benefit to some of the better off in our society,” Mr Osborne told BBC1’s Breakfast programme.
“It’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly, but given the scale of the debts Labour’s left us with, and given they’ve left us with no plan and we’ve had to come up with proposals, we think this is fair.”
Under the proposals outlined by the chancellor two parents whose joint income exceeds £44,000 will continue to receive the benefit, but a single parent earning over £44,000 will not.
Mr Osborne insisted the move was the most “sensible” approach to implementing the measure as he rejected calls for means-testing seen at the Labour party conference.
He added: “It means we’re all in this together. Each part of society is going to be making a contribution.”
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “While the poorest will be hardest hit by austerity, today’s announcement on child benefit shows no-one is immune from the government’s unwarranted rush to cut.
“This is a big blow to the principle that has served Britain well for decades that welfare should be available to all, not just the poorest.”
