Welfare Reform Bill

I approached this debate hoping that all of us in this House recognise the importance of the dignity of work for our population and recognise the dignity of living in a society where we are concerned for the welfare of people who fall on hard times. That is the basis of our social security system and we are judged on how we deal with the most vulnerable. So the remarks that have been made about people living with disabilities are particularly pertinent to the kind of society we want to live in. We have heard remarks from Members on both sides of the House that cut to the heart of that kind of society. I am not able to vote with the Government on the Bill. I say that coming from a working-class background in which my parents, both of whom are dead now, would literally run out of the door to work because they valued work so much. We survived on income support. For us, child benefit meant being able to buy school uniforms and books, and there was a period when I experienced free school meals. Speaking in this debate, I am thinking about the many people outside the Chamber who rely on the welfare state and social security who will be very anxious about what has been said at the Dispatch Box. The first reason why I cannot vote for the Bill concerns worklessness. One has to acknowledge the progress of moving to a universal credit system, but the reforms are being made against a backdrop of huge worklessness in communities such as mine and we have a residual memory of the past. When Labour came to office in 1997, unemployment in Tottenham was at 28%; it is currently the highest in London. We remember a similar programme to the workfare programme called the youth training scheme. We remember the Manpower Services Commission and the 58% of people on YTS who did not finish it and who certainly did not leave it with any qualifications or job opportunities, so we scrutinise what this workfare programme will mean, and it seems lacking when we look at what is replacing the current system. We know there will be less money in the kitty than there is now and we cannot understand how the Government can move to the new system while withdrawing £6.2 billion from the current credit schemes. That is £6.2 billion that will not be available to some of the poorest families in the country. The Bill will need a lot of scrutiny in Committee in the context of worklessness, particularly the situation facing the young, and I hope to play a role in that. The second reason I cannot vote for the Bill is because of where it will leave women and families. Much has been said about the situation regarding the second earner when there are two earners in the home. The Bill will hurt both families and marriage, and I am surprised to see the coalition Government, who say they value marriage, doing something that will clearly hurt families by taking this punitive approach to the second income. Also, many of us are dealing with local authorities that are withdrawing support for services in our communities, such as after-school clubs. I agree with the single mothers in my constituency who say to me, ““Listen, those activities that our children partake in when school finishes at 3.30 pm are not a luxury but a necessity because we go out to work and work finishes at about 5.30 pm, and then we have to get home and pick them up.”” That money is being cut against the backdrop of the proposal in the Bill massively to reduce child care allowances. How can we do that to women up and down the country whom we encourage, and want, to work? That is another reason why we should not vote for the Bill. Another reason why I will not vote for the Bill is because of the visit I had from the Haringey Phoenix Group in my constituency—a wonderful voluntary organisation that supports the blind. I am particularly concerned by what the Secretary of State has said. He was vague at best about his proposals and much has been kicked into a review. Many people will be left in huge uncertainty and it is unfair that someone who is blind, who is trying to live an independent lifestyle and who perhaps has a family, not to know what kind of assessment they will receive, how regularly they will receive it and the scale of their benefits afterwards, because the Secretary of State cannot provide those answers. I welcome the simplification of the system and the desire to see people in work and gaining the dignity that comes with that, but people outside will be very concerned, and the son of anyone who has received benefits in the past could not support the Bill as it stands.