Today we stand up to the worst of the Tory party

The House of Lords exists to revise, scrutinise, and improve the legislation brought forward by the Government. Today this role has never been so important.

The Conservatives are cutting tax credits, something they promised not to do, to an extent that will see 3 million low income, hardworking families lose out by an average of £1000 per year. This is money desperately needed for food, heating, electricity, and other essentials.

The Tories are facing resistance from every corner; the public, the Lords, independent experts, and their own backbenches. That these excessive cuts are clearly being driven through by Osborne and Cameron despite these protestations from their own party shows that they think bullying tactics will let them get things their way.

The Liberal Democrats are putting their foot down. Our fatal motion in the Lords will seek to stop these measures for good. Our Work and Pensions Spokesperson, Zahida Manzoor, has put her name to a motion that will force the Tories to rethink their position, to reconsider whether they think it is a good idea to risk putting nearly 5 million children closer to the bread line.

These changes will see low income families lose around £1,000 a year. Osborne is claiming that all these cuts to vital income will be offset by the new minimum wage and increases in income tax threshold. However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that the impact of these other changes will only cover a quarter of the money cut from family budgets. And they won’t make any difference to families who are earning just above the minimum wage. This will be felt very heavily indeed by lower income households across the country.

The Tories claim they are the party of hard working families – moves like this shows how little they really have changed.  These changes cut off incentives for work, making employment a risky choice for people on the bread line, and putting increased pressure on the economy as jobs go unfilled. But worst of all these cuts hit single mothers the hardest, more children will be going hungry.

The Tories also claim that in fighting this measure, the Lords is overstepping the mark. But the fact is that this wasn’t in the Conservative manifesto, and the Lords has the right, and a duty, to scrutinise, approve or reject measures put before it by the Government of the day.

The constitutional arguments are there to distract from the real issue – that this is the next generation of the poll tax, a new burden on the poorest in our society. The Tories did it last time they were in power and they are clearly willing to try again. Without protest they will get away with it. They have laid before us the opportunity to stand up to them and there is no way we are going to let this pass silently. 

Despite the hardship this will cause to huge numbers of people Cameron is willing to force a constitutional crisis to make sure his plans to cut vital support for millions of working families go ahead. With so much at stake the Liberal Democrats will not be silent. We urge others in the House of Lords, from all parties and none, to join with us and stop this disgraceful policy in its tracks.