New Clause 6
Welfare Reform Bill
12:30 pm
John Mason (Glasgow East, Scottish National Party)
I would like to challenge the Committee with a question: what is our starting point as we look at this Bill? Is it that the state is so generously funding people who do not really deserve it that we must cap all our expenditure and, if possible, reduce it? Some might say that is the traditional view of the main Opposition party. Alternatively, are we approaching the Bill from the point of view that every adult, family and child needs to have enough to live on so that they are able to eat, have a proper home, and be properly clothed? Anything that we do under the Bill must take account of those points, and some would say that that is the traditional view of the party in government.
One of my fundamental problems with the idea of sanctions is that some people are already living on a minimal income. If we cut that income further, where will that leave those people? In particular, where will it leave families, and especially children?
The Committee has discussed loans at some length. There has been mention of social fund loans, but people take other loans as well, and they eat into their ability to pay bills. In fact, on Friday, a constituent came to me who had got seriously into debt because of his mother’s funeral. He was unwise to pay as much as he did on the funeral, but—[Interruption.]