Clause 7 - Loss of benefit for commission of benefit offences
Social Security Fraud Bill [Lords]
5:45 pm
Mr Jeff Rooker (Minister of State, Department of Social Security; Birmingham, Perry Barr, Labour)
I will give way in a moment, and then the hon. Gentleman can make all the points that he wants. We have plenty of time for that.
It will not be the case that people will not understand what is happening. The people who we are talking about are not lovable rogues, but persistent benefit cheats. We could give many examples of people who have cheated the system twice or even tried to do so a third time. We catch and prosecute them, but all of a sudden, we still have to pay them benefit. My constituents, many of them low-paid taxpayers, wonder what the hell is going on. Why are we allowing that to occur? We have reached the point of saying, ``Sorry, but we are not doing this any more.''
Mr. Webb rose—