UK Parliament / Open data

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Proceeding contribution from David Miliband (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 8 January 2013. It occurred during Debate on bills on Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill.

I do not want to give the hon. Gentleman a maths lesson—I did not get good marks in maths—but percentages are percentages; that is the whole point. If we change the denominator it plays through in the percentage that comes later. I do not want to get too diverted by that, but I thank him for the extra 50 seconds.

Let me get on to the question of affordability, which is central to the Government’s case. The Government claim that the alternative to this Bill is higher borrowing or higher taxation, but I want to show why that is not true. The Government themselves have projected the total cost of all benefits, all tax credits and all tax relief for the next few years, and I am happy to debate priorities within that envelope. I will take the envelope that they have set, but let us have a proper debate about choices, not the total sum—a priorities debate, not an affordability debate.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
556 cc217-291 
Session
2012-13
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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