Conservative Leader on Sefton Council, Mike Prendergast, is calling on Southport Liberal Democrats to explain how much extra tax they would look to take from Southport and Sefton residents to fund a proposed change to the current benefits system.
Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors last week upheld a motion confirming the Council’s: “support for the removal of the two-child benefit cap”.
The UK two-child benefit cap was introduced in April 2017 as part of a series of welfare reforms. It affects the amount of financial support families can receive through certain state benefits based on the number of children they have. Under the policy, Child Tax Credit and the child element of Universal Credit are only provided for the first two children in a family. This means that families who have a third or subsequent child born on or after 6 April 2017 will not receive additional financial support for those children through these benefits.
Councillor Prendergast said, “We all want to see the living standards of all children improve and central government has provided unprecedented support over the last few years to support the most vulnerable households.
“This has included around £40 billion of support this year, billions in support last year with the most vulnerable households receiving the most support. We’ve also had the recent announcement of expansion of childcare hours for families and all of this comes on top of over £400 billion of support provided by the government during the pandemic when the majority of salaries of around 14.7 million people were covered by the furlough scheme.
“Many people in Sefton will feel thought that a cap on certain benefits, is a sensible and proportionate way of providing help without being an unlimited cost to the taxpayer.
“It seems that local Lib Dem’s are trying to woo Labour voters in Bootle with policies which appear to have no limit in terms of their potential cost. It’s clear the Lib Dem’s in Southport, now supported by Labour as well, are in favour of increasing general taxation in a never ending cycle of tax and spend. This would be bad for businesses and households.
“As Conservatives, we firmly believe that your money is better in your pocket and we certainly won’t be supporting Southport Lib Dem’s and Labour in their quest to tax more and more and take money off hardworking people and businesses in Southport.
“This irresponsible approach to the public purse makes it harder for Sefton residents to tell Lib Dem’s apart from Labour. It’s looking very much the case that if people in Sefton vote Lib Dem, they will end up with Labour policies, vote Lib get Lab.
“So many times we have seen Lib Dem’s vote with Labour in Sefton; at the next set of Local Elections only the Conservatives in Sefton will be providing the real opposition to Sefton Labour.”
Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing, said: “The removal of the two-child benefit cap is something we are only too happy to champion.
“Poverty in childhood can have hugely negative effects on people later in life and research clearly shows that those who are born into poverty are proportionally more likely to face a series of unfair socioeconomic challenges as they age.
“We’re calling on the Government to do the right thing and scrap the cap, as well as sharing with them our detailed and in-depth Sefton Child Poverty Strategy which highlights both the challenges we face and the efforts we’re taking to tackle these issues at a Borough level.”
Cllr Gareth Lloyd Johnson moved the motion before Council and said he was proud to have backing from his colleagues
Cllr Lloyd Johnson said: “‘It is clear from the support this motion received that the vast majority of Sefton councillors believe that the two-child cap is wrong.
“The levels of poverty within our borough are deeply worrying, particularly amongst children and young people.
“It is my hope that no child born in Sefton suffers poverty as the direct result of Government policy.”
OTS News on Social Media