Clause 1
Finance Bill
12:45 pm
Jane Kennedy (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for clarifying that point. We transgress slightly beyond the scope of the clause, but the two issues that appear to impact most in London are how housing benefit is administered and how child care is supported and provided. While they are not exclusively the only two areas that we look at when dealing with poverty and low-income households, we are aware of the concerns, and it is right for them to be raised.
On the general approach that the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge made in opening the clause stand part debate, I reject the description and the reasoning that he gave about why these changes were made, but I understand why he did so—it is a party political point. In response, I say that while one of the factors influencing concern in the minds of the public is the uncertainty in the global economic market, it is wrong to say that we sailed along on, I think that he said, a looking glass—