Proposed by Councillor Mike Sullivan

Seconded by Councillor Bernie Mooney

(1)  This Council condemns the Government’s decision to cut Working Tax Credits. In Wirral, 23,300 hard-working people will be hit by this cut.

(2)  Council also notes with extreme concern that at the same time as the Government is giving the richest 2 percent of earners a £3 billion tax cut, Tory MP for Wirral West, Esther McVey, has admitted that her Government has plunged 200,000 children into poverty with the cut to Tax Credits.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2)

Proposed by Councillor Wendy Clements

Seconded by Councillor Simon Mountney

Delete all and replace with:

(1)  This Council notes the largest ever increase in personal tax allowance from April 2013 which will lift more than 2 million people out of paying tax altogether.

(2)  Council further notes that under Labour the target to halve child poverty by 2010 was missed by 600,000 children.

(3)  Council further notes that it is misleading to look at the impacts of uprating (eg Working Tax Credits) in isolation, and the Government is investing in tackling the root causes of child poverty through making work pay. Council recognises that work is the best route out of poverty. Universal credit will reduce poverty by making work pay and providing an effective route out of poverty for up to 250,000 children. 75% of the gainers from Universal Credit are in the bottom 40% of the income distribution.

(4)  Council welcomes the Government’s consultation on better measures for Child Poverty to better reflect the reality of Child Poverty in the UK today.

(5)  Council notes that the Government is committed to tackling child poverty and to eradicate the causes including worklessness, educational failure and family breakdown, rather than simply treating the consequences of the problem.

(6)  Council notes that income will remain a key indicator in defining what it means to be in poverty, but income is not all that matters. It is now widely understood that the current relative income measure by itself is not an accurate picture of child poverty. There need to be better measures that capture the reality of children's experience of poverty. That is why the Government is consulting on what those measures should be.

(7)  Council notes that the Government is taking action to tackle child poverty including introducing universal credit, which will simplify the benefit system and ensure that work is always the best option; investing more in nursery and pre-school provision, including providing 260,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds with 15 hours a week free child care; investing in education, including £2.5 billion for the pupil premium for disadvantaged pupils and £1.2 billion for capital investment in schools; and raising the tax threshold which will lift more than 2 million people out of paying tax altogether.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2)

Proposed by Councillor Alan Brighouse

Seconded by Councillor Tom Harney

Delete all and insert:

(1)  Council notes that Working Tax Credits are expensive to administer, prone to error and discourage an individual from increasing their earnings.

(2)  Council recognises that a far more efficient way to increase household income of low and middle income families is to increase the level at which tax becomes payable and to encourage the adoption of a living wage.

(3)  Council also notes the measures taken by the Coalition Government to create a fairer tax system. Apart from one month of the last Labour Government, the rate of tax paid by the highest earners was less than at any time under the present Government. In addition, increases to Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty and the removal of Child Benefit from high rate tax payers, together with a significant reduction in the income tax paid by low and middle income families, has brought a greater degree of fairness to personal taxation.

Having applied the guillotine in accordance with Standing Order 7(8) the Council did not debate this matter.

The amendment proposed by Councillor Wendy Clements was put and lost (27:35) (One abstention)

The amendment proposed by Councillor Alan Brighouse was put and lost (27:35) (One abstention)

The Motion was put and carried (35:27) (One abstention)

Resolved (35:27) (One abstention) –

(1)  This Council condemns the Government’s decision to cut Working Tax Credits. In Wirral, 23,300 hard-working people will be hit by this cut.

(2)  Council also notes with extreme concern that at the same time as the Government is giving the richest 2 percent of earners a £3 billion tax cut, Tory MP for Wirral West, Esther McVey, has admitted that her Government has plunged 200,000 children into poverty with the cut to Tax Credits.