Tory MP Liddell-Grainger fears benefit tax 'disaster'

A Tory MP has warned the effects on the tax system because of the changes to child benefit are a "disaster waiting to happen".


Ian Liddell-Grainger, the Parliamentary All Party Tax Group chairman said the tax authorities would not cope.

If a claimant or their partner earns more than £44,000 a year, the benefit will be lost under the plans.

But if taxpayers will continue claiming the benefit, this will then be clawed back through extra tax.
Some of the people who pay tax through Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) will continue claiming the benefit, which will then be reclaimed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) through extra tax from them or their partner.

Born Again Thatcherites are preaching fiscal austerity to the unconverted

George Osborne's dedication to fiscal masochism is overlooking the markets' worries about growth.

As the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition embarks on Margaret Thatcher's Economic Experiment Part Two, and Lloyd George, Roy Jenkins and the departed members of the generation of "wet" Conservatives turn in their graves, I am occasionally asked whether I regret having been so hostile to Thatcherism, Mark One. The answer remains a resounding "no".

When the subject was raised the other evening, there came to mind a conversation I had with a former cabinet minister after the fall of Thatcher in 1990. He was a senior figure, and certainly not in the wet bracket with my friends Ian Gilmour, Peter Walker and Jim Prior. "She must be suffering," I ventured. My interlocutor stared hard at his lunch and picked up his glass. "Yes," he replied, "but is she suffering enough?"

This particular politician had once been a believer but was horrified by the extent of the social damage. It had not been as easy as he thought to reform the public sector without pain; and the simple monetarism he had espoused turned out to be seriously flawed. Now, it appears, it is a case of "here we go again", with our new chancellor congratulating himself in public for "taking the necessary courageous action".

Budget cuts: top Lib Dems fire warning to Tories

Fears among senior Liberal Democrats about the coalition with the Tories were brought into the open today when Simon Hughes, the party's newly elected deputy leader, raised the prospect of rebelling against the budget. Hughes issued a blunt warning to the Tories that the government would break up if key pensioner benefits in the coalition agreement were cut.

He launched the most significant intervention since the formation of the coalition in the debate that followed George Osborne's emergency budget on Tuesday when the chancellor of the exchequer said that welfare would bear the brunt of cuts. Although Hughes, the veteran Lib Dem MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said he supported harsh budget measures to help deal with Britain's weak public finances, he indicated that he was prepared to table rebel amendments to promote fairness.