Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 16 March 2009.
Rosie Winterton
Minister of State (Regional Affairs) (Yorkshire and the Humber), Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions) (Pensions Reform) and Minister (Yorkshire and the Humber)
2:30,
16 March 2009
My hon. Friend is talking about the 10 per cent. rule—the social tariff. The Conservative Government introduced tariff income in legislation in 1987. It was never linked to interest rates; an assumption was made about a sum that could reasonably be expected to contribute to weekly income. Instead of assuming £1 for every £250, as the Tory Government did, we assume £1 for every £500. In addition, under the Conservative Government, no savings over £6,000 were allowed. We have raised that so that there is no limit on the amount of savings people can have if they are to access savings credit.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
