Welfare Reform

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 12:32 pm on 10 December 2008.

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Photo of John Martin McDonnell John Martin McDonnell Labour, Hayes and Harlington 12:32, 10 December 2008

We have 2 million unemployed, we are facing the longest and deepest recession in our lifetime, the Government have laid off 30,000 workers in the Department for Work and Pensions—the very people who are there to assist people to get back into work—and the lack of affordable child care has been admitted by the Prime Minister, yet we are threatening to withdraw benefits from some of the poorest people in our society. What measures will be put in place to protect the children in families that lose their benefits from falling into even more severe poverty?