MP defends policy to pay mums
10:53am Tuesday 20th May 2008
BASINGSTOKE MP Maria Miller has defended herself after a policy idea that attracted her attention was attacked in the national press.
Mrs Miller, the Conservatives' shadow families minister, attended the launch of a document, developed by think-tank Policy Exchange, which suggested mothers be paid to stay at home to look after their young children if they do not want to return to work.
But The Times newspaper columnist Alice Miles was among those criticising the idea of giving all mothers £50 to £60 a week, per child, from birth to three years old.
She claimed that the funding would come from taking grants and tax credits from the poorest mothers to support all mothers - including the rich.
She wrote: "The proposal is immoral and regressive, hurting the poorest children the most - something that Mrs Miller recognises."
But Mrs Miller explained the report did not tell mothers to stay at home, but said there was an inequity in the system for mothers with young children and considered how to address it.
She said: "If you stay at home and don't make use of those tax credits or nurseries, you get nothing at all.
"Why should we underwrite one sort of activity and not another?"
Mrs Miller said many women she talked to found it increasingly difficult to balance work and family life and provide enough money to sustain their families.
"I will look at the proposal from Policy Exchange to see if it can help those women concerned," she said.
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Ragman, Hampshire says...
3:46pm Tue 20 May 08
Billy Nomates wrote:Please £50-£60 per week?
Would single mums be able to claim this on top of other benefits? That way - if they dropped a sprog every three years they could earn a good living not working.
You would need some serious benefits to "earn a good living" on that amount.
I'm neither for or against benefits being paid where deserved, but am a parent and would love to receive something extra to assist in providing for the children.
Today's children are the workforce of tomorrow so even if you have no kids and hate the idea of them, much less someone receiving a benefit for having them, they will be paying your pension when you draw it, running the businesses that your private pension is holding shares in, policing your streets, running the newspapers and forums we all read and frequent.
Let them have a decent chance of an upbringing - £50 might make a difference.
Picket Dewfury, Basingstoke says...
4:52pm Tue 20 May 08
Jo Walke, says...
5:37pm Tue 20 May 08
There would have to be an income threashold.
BonzoDog, local says...
6:26pm Tue 20 May 08
So the middle classes are struggling to pay their massive mortgages eh? Let's get the poor people to pay then instead.
We have a government robbing the poor, and now the other crowd are muscling in too.
If only I had the money I'd emigrate to Spain with all the OAP's!
Carlos Tilbury, overton says...
10:12pm Tue 20 May 08
In Spain they get nearly nothing from the government and france is the same, although I do agree it seems they will rob the poor to help the rich.
We are fast becoming/become a hand out nation, we all need help in our lives and rightly so, hell we do pay for it, but it just seems that it will encourage more people to have children and stay at home.
I'm the first person to my hand in my pocket to help the needy, homeless, opressed and the victims in this world, but now this is just crackers, having kids is a choice, I would like a 911 GT3 in black, I wonder if Ms Miller might give me an extra £200 a week to pay for it!!
Ragman, Hampshire says...
12:37am Wed 21 May 08
If you can't afford em' don't av' em.
Agree entirely.
It sounds like more of 'Robin Hood' in reverse to me.
So the middle classes are struggling to pay their massive mortgages eh? Let's get the poor people to pay then instead.
Where on earth did this statement come from? I re-read the whole page - comments and all and still can't find a single statement where anyone is complaining about mortgage payments.
I would like a 911 GT3 in black, I wonder if Ms Miller might give me an extra £200 a week to pay for it!!
Wow, that's some inflation - it was £50-£60 per week in the original item.
Maybe if the feral 'yoof' that so often get complained about were looked after by their own mothers rather than some 'Kids Factory Inc' nursery they would be more caring and less likely to wander round stabbing each other and robbing pensioners etc etc.
Just a thought.
BonzoDog, local says...
8:06am Wed 21 May 08
Just a thought."
Where on earth did this statement come from? I re-read the whole page - comments and all and still can't find a single statement where anyone is complaining about the feral 'yoof?
Ragman, Hampshire says...
9:52am Wed 21 May 08
Where on earth did this statement come from? I re-read the whole page - comments and all and still can't find a single statement where anyone is complaining about the feral 'yoof?
I introduced this to the thread as a suggestion that by paying mothers to look after their own kids they might not be so angry and disaffected and would therefore not feel the need to stab, rob etc etc.
I feel that it is related to the thread topic and relevant so I included it.
I've just read the report from the Policy Exchange - it makes sense.
Billy Nomates, Basingstoke says...
3:08pm Wed 21 May 08
These 'feral' yoofs need to be rounded up and locked up taking away Child Benefit, Tax Credit, CSA & Income Support payments for them from the parent with care. This would soon get the parents to pay a bloody interest in them.
Ragman, Hampshire says...
4:14pm Wed 21 May 08
My argument is that by bringing them up correctly (mothers looking after them - not farming them out) they would be less likely to become feral and then cause problems for the wider community. This way the justice system wouldn't receive so much business for petty crime and the prisons would surely be used for more serious cases.
Check out the local estates (Hatch Warren / Chineham) where a good deal of the families have both parents in work and compare that to the reports in the Gazette of gangs of teenagers throwing stones at buses, cars, causing problems at shop entrances etc.
Sure there is more to it than that, but a good start (0 - 3 years) can't hurt, can it?
Back to the original thread..
If the current Tax Credit / Working Families Credit etc etc wasn't so comlex to claim and was fully claimed by all that could claim then it would cost far more than it currently cost (nice one Gordon - confuse them into not claiming), and more than the proposals being discussed.
I'm sure we all begrudge paying too much tax (I'm always saddened when I compare what I earn pre and post tax) maybe more so when it is spent on someone else kids. I personally wouldn't receive anything extra under these proposals but still feel that it would be better than the current situation.
Ragman, Hampshire says...
4:19pm Wed 21 May 08
My argument is that by bringing them up correctly (mothers looking after them - not farming them out) they would be less likely to become feral and then cause problems for the wider community. This way the justice system wouldn't receive so much business for petty crime and the prisons would surely be used for more serious cases.
Check out the local estates (Hatch Warren / Chineham) where a good deal of the families have both parents in work and compare that to the reports in the Gazette of gangs of teenagers throwing stones at buses, cars, causing problems at shop entrances etc.
Sure there is more to it than that, but a good start (0 - 3 years) can't hurt, can it?
Back to the original thread..
If the current Tax Credit / Working Families Credit etc etc wasn't so comlex to claim and was fully claimed by all that could claim then it would cost far more than it currently cost (nice one Gordon - confuse them into not claiming), and more than the proposals being discussed.
I'm sure we all begrudge paying too much tax (I'm always saddened when I compare what I earn pre and post tax) maybe more so when it is spent on someone else kids. I personally wouldn't receive anything extra under these proposals but still feel that it would be better than the current situation.
Ragman, Hampshire says...
4:20pm Wed 21 May 08
My argument is that by bringing them up correctly (mothers looking after them - not farming them out) they would be less likely to become feral and then cause problems for the wider community. This way the justice system wouldn't receive so much business for petty crime and the prisons would surely be used for more serious cases.
Check out the local estates (Hatch Warren / Chineham) where a good deal of the families have both parents in work and compare that to the reports in the Gazette of gangs of teenagers throwing stones at buses, cars, causing problems at shop entrances etc.
Sure there is more to it than that, but a good start (0 - 3 years) can't hurt, can it?
Back to the original thread..
If the current Tax Credit / Working Families Credit etc etc wasn't so comlex to claim and was fully claimed by all that could claim then it would cost far more than it currently cost (nice one Gordon - confuse them into not claiming), and more than the proposals being discussed.
I'm sure we all begrudge paying too much tax (I'm always saddened when I compare what I earn pre and post tax) maybe more so when it is spent on someone else kids. I personally wouldn't receive anything extra under these proposals but still feel that it would be better than the current situation.
Ragman, Hampshire says...
4:24pm Wed 21 May 08
My argument is that by bringing them up correctly (mothers looking after them - not farming them out) they would be less likely to become feral and then cause problems for the wider community. This way the justice system wouldn't receive so much business for petty crime and the prisons would surely be used for more serious cases.
Check out the local estates (Hatch Warren / Chineham) where a good deal of the families have both parents in work and compare that to the reports in the Gazette of gangs of teenagers throwing stones at buses, cars, causing problems at shop entrances etc.
Sure there is more to it than that, but a good start (0 - 3 years) can't hurt, can it?
Back to the original thread..
If the current Tax Credit / Working Families Credit etc etc wasn't so complex to claim and was fully claimed by all that could claim then it would cost far more than it currently cost (nice one Gordon - confuse them into not claiming), and more than the proposals being discussed.
I'm sure we all begrudge paying too much tax (I'm always saddened when I compare what I earn pre and post tax) maybe more so when it is spent on someone else kids. I personally wouldn't receive anything extra under these proposals but still feel that it would be better than the current situation.
Ragman, Hampshire says...
4:25pm Wed 21 May 08
Billy Nomates, Basingstoke says...
6:18pm Wed 21 May 08
I hate to generalise or tar any group with the same brush as there are some ace single parents out there. But you can't ignore what you see with your own eyes.
Many bad parents milk the system for benefits and this suggestion to add another one will have them working out how to max out every possible payout.
There needs to be an end to the benefit system making it more attractive to be a single parent working 16-18 hours a week, than it is for a married couple to both work full time on a low wage. The former brings hundreds of pounds worth of benefits a month - the latter zilch.
A good parent is just that - a good parent. They seek nothing other than decent manners and behaviour in their children.
We need to remember children are OPTIONAL, they are nor a pre-requite and they are not a right.
However, I do understand you point Ragman, which is put very well. Some points I agree with. I just don't believe any more benefits need to be paid and that working parents are the primary reason for 'feral' children.
bagpuss9, Basingstoke says...
8:42am Thu 22 May 08
funny how we've turned so well, isn't it!
Picket Dewfury, Basingstoke says...
2:33pm Thu 22 May 08
Not all kids are bad. You may have a dozen disruptive scumbag kids trashing an area that want putting down, but it is only a small window on 'yoof'.
There are many many more decent kids indoors studying, going about their business in a normal fashion and generally living decent lives without trying to destroy things.
Carlos Tilbury, overton says...
6:34pm Thu 22 May 08
The minute you put a financial incentive into the arena, someone will abuse it.
Not all kids are bad. You may have a dozen disruptive scumbag kids trashing an area that want putting down, but it is only a small window on 'yoof'.
There are many many more decent kids indoors studying, going about their business in a normal fashion and generally living decent lives without trying to destroy things.
I think you hit the nail on the head Picket with your comment, it sums it upto a tee.
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Billy Nomates, Basingstoke says...
2:09pm Tue 20 May 08