The two amendments passed by 307 votes to 277, and 289 votes to 272, but a move to kill the cuts outright was defeated.
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Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle replied: “As you know it does take both Houses to agree and it will be coming before this House and I’m sure it won’t be the end of the matter at this stage but you’ve certainly allowed us to be informed”.
Her warning follows an intervention by the Prime Minister, who argued it is not the role of the Second Chamber to “interfere” with decisions pertaining to government spending.
Lord Newby has tabled a so-called “fatal motion” which could flatly reject the tax credit cuts, while Baroness Meacher has tabled a vote to force the Government to mitigate their impact.
If Osborne manages to scrape through the tax credits row without rebranding the Tories as the “nasty party” who are penalizing the poor, it will prove he has the mettle and political abilities to be prime minister.
Mr Osborne criticised “unelected” Labour and Liberal Democrat peers for blocking the government on a financial measure and David Cameron is launching a “rapid review” into the constitutional fallout of the bruising result.
A further 57% of people in Scotland say they think that David Cameron has broken a pre-election promise by cutting tax credits, compared to just 17% who don’t. But had they put the cut to tax credits in their manifesto, there would have been nothing the Lords could have done to stop them.
“Why do people need tax credits?” “That can not be the right long term solution for the country”.
Speaking later on Radio 5Live’s Pienaar’s Politics, Ms Morgan hinted Mr Osborne could help lower income families subject to the cuts through other means. “I’m determined to deliver that lower welfare economy the British people want to see”. The cuts were due to account for £4.4bn of his £12bn welfare cuts.
“Essentially, the cuts would apply to new claimants only”, she said, in the highly charged debate on the cuts.
“I can confirm he would listen very carefully were the House to express its concern in a way that it is precedented for us to do so”.
The Baroness said that the upper house had to act as almost a quarter of lone parents would be worse off because of the reforms.
What is a fatal motion?
They also claim that the government attempted to slip the measure through Parliament by tabling it as a statutory instrument – an order usually used for minor pieces of legislation – rather than full, primary legislation.
The Lords voted in favor of two amendments to the government’s proposals that called on ministers to delay and take a closer look at the effect the planned cuts will have on the poorest families receiving them. The Conservatives have a majority in the Commons but not in the Lords, whose members are mostly political appointees, with a smattering of hereditary nobles, judges and clergy. I am terrified. We are not scroungers.
The Government’s main justification for its policies was that “work pays”, she insisted. I can not believe that this is actually going to happen.
The Labour frontbencher has written a letter calling on Chancellor George Osborne to perform a U-turn on reform plans as they stand. That is what concerns me.
First, many dispute these numbers – and say the averages quoted cover up a few pretty brutal cuts for the worst hit.
The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev John Sentamu, told peers they would be abrogating their responsibilities by approving regulations without having the full facts before them.
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“George Osborne must now go back to the drawing board and come back with plans to balance the books that don’t simply attack working families who are already struggling to get by”, he said. If he can pull off a similar trick this time, acknowledging and accepting public doubts about tax credits without budging on his fundamental goals, he may well be truly unbeatable in the succession game.
