Social Care
Clegg under mounting Welfare Reform pressure
Call to back Lords’ ammendments.
The Guardian newspaper has reported mounting pressure on Nick Clegg over the Welfare Reform Bill.
There are calls on the Liberal Democrat leader to back a string of Lords amendments designed to protect children and those with disabilities from the impact of the government’s welfare reforms.
A letter from more than 50 former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates in the 2010 election has been sent to Clegg urging him to respect party policy and vote to allow disabled people to retain employment support allowance for at least two years without being means tested.
The letter, passed to the Guardian, warns more than 800,000 people with disabilities will be hit by the reforms, and expresses deep concern that the employment minister, Chris Grayling, has said the government defeats in the Lords will be overturned.
Liberal Democrat MPs are also being called to a meeting with campaign groups and charities to hear the case for backing a Lords amendment that excludes child benefit from the planned £26,000 cap on benefits.
The government has vowed to overturn all six amendments passed by peers during the bill’s report stage and will be pushing the issue to a vote in the Commons next Wednesday. The coordinated pressure from Liberal Democrat grassroots is designed to force the government to make concessions that ministers have so far insisted will cost billions, and will only add to a dependency culture.
Please sign the epetition and keep the pressure up
Source: The Guardian
Dr Donald Macaskill
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