Apparition
4th October 2010, 08:27 AM
LONDON – Britain's government is to scrap child benefit payments for middle income and high-earning families as part of its plan to slash government spending, Treasury chief George Osborne said on Monday.
Osborne, who is scheduled to deliver a speech to the Conservative Party's annual rally in Birmingham, central England, later said parents who earn more than 44,000 pounds ($70,000) per year will lose the payment from 2013.
Currently, all families are paid 20 pounds ($32) a week for their eldest child and about 13 pounds ($20) for other children. The benefits continue until the children are aged 19, if they stay in full-time education.
Osborne said scrapping the benefit would raise 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) and was necessary as part of the government's plan to clear the budget deficit by 2015.
"It is a big decision for us but we think it is absolutely necessary and fair given the financial situation we face," Osborne told BBC television.
On Sunday, about 7,000 labor union members — including teachers and health service workers — staged a march outside the Conservative convention, to protest at planned spending cuts.
Osborne has already announced a multibillion pound packages of spending reductions and tax hikes, including a two year pay freeze for most public sector workers, a new levy on banks and a rise in a tax on goods and services.
He will set out detailed plans for spending cuts over the next five years in a major address to Parliament on Oct. 20. seeking to save about 86 billion pounds ($135 billion).
In his speech to party activists Monday, Osborne planned to strike an upbeat message on the future of Britain's economy — suggesting that painful measures in the short term would allow the country to prosper.
"The hard economic choices we make are but a means to an end, and that end is prosperity for all," Osborne planned to say, according to excerpts released in advance.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101004/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_spending_cuts
Bravo, U.K.
It's saddening that the worthless politicians in this country lack the fortitude or intelligence to enact similar policies during this economic crisis.
Osborne, who is scheduled to deliver a speech to the Conservative Party's annual rally in Birmingham, central England, later said parents who earn more than 44,000 pounds ($70,000) per year will lose the payment from 2013.
Currently, all families are paid 20 pounds ($32) a week for their eldest child and about 13 pounds ($20) for other children. The benefits continue until the children are aged 19, if they stay in full-time education.
Osborne said scrapping the benefit would raise 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) and was necessary as part of the government's plan to clear the budget deficit by 2015.
"It is a big decision for us but we think it is absolutely necessary and fair given the financial situation we face," Osborne told BBC television.
On Sunday, about 7,000 labor union members — including teachers and health service workers — staged a march outside the Conservative convention, to protest at planned spending cuts.
Osborne has already announced a multibillion pound packages of spending reductions and tax hikes, including a two year pay freeze for most public sector workers, a new levy on banks and a rise in a tax on goods and services.
He will set out detailed plans for spending cuts over the next five years in a major address to Parliament on Oct. 20. seeking to save about 86 billion pounds ($135 billion).
In his speech to party activists Monday, Osborne planned to strike an upbeat message on the future of Britain's economy — suggesting that painful measures in the short term would allow the country to prosper.
"The hard economic choices we make are but a means to an end, and that end is prosperity for all," Osborne planned to say, according to excerpts released in advance.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101004/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_spending_cuts
Bravo, U.K.
It's saddening that the worthless politicians in this country lack the fortitude or intelligence to enact similar policies during this economic crisis.