Sir Ralph

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54731222

You're lucky. Imagine being born in Liverpool.

Not great second half need to learn to keep up the intensity. People saying Tonda isnt good enough are bloody jokers. We have won 6 in 7. Have they forgotten what it was like about a month ago. Short term memories

Not Aribo!!!

So you will bet on something you dont know the answer to.... Ive been through this before. My family lived below the poverty line in this country. My pareants refused to take beenfits. We batted through, despite having very little. We were fine and probably taught me the value of money and the need to work hard. In my opinion, that is what is currently lacking in the UK.

You cant unilaterally decided you have proven your point! We disagree thats it. You think its too complicated to stop the long term unemployed milking the system and there are too many negative impacts. I dont.

Hence my suggestion to help the 'responsible tax payer'. I've literally just suggested that! There are clearly people taking the piss out of the benefits system, some of whom I know of (but am not friends with). Can you tell me that there arent and what percentage are receiving an appropriate level of welfare? Some on here seem to think its ok for the long term unemployed to milk the system on the two child cap point. I dont.

I didnt say that. A single parent should work 17.5 hours. Of course there are different scenarios and you can't account for them all its impossible. If you wanted to apply for benefits now you have to provide lots of information to be assessed anyway so I dont see whats ddiferent. Where is the scenario covered of the long term unemployed milking the system? It seems you want all persons covered in every scenario which is a huge cost to the responsible tax payer who is not covered / loses out. Who is thinking of the tax payer in these scenarios? Thats half the problem, people expect the state to intervene in too many scenarios at the cost of the responsible tax payer, hence the bloating of the state.

This is where you need studies and specialist input to come up with the detail. You and I dont have this information so neither of us fully know the answers. If this was down to me, the two child cap has been in place so this should only apply if both parents are working at least 35 hours a week between them and they are below £35k. This figures are indicative. In the scenario you mentioned, the relevant couple wouldnt beenfit from the removal of the cap anyway, so it wouldnt make a difference to them and they wouldnt have their help cut off in this respect. If someone below the £35k threshold lost their job, the other could always work. If both of them lost their jobs but had been in long term employment before (e.g. at least 3 years), you could have a 6 month grace period to keep paying this whilst they find a job. There will be some circumstances where the help wouldnt be there for a few people that need it. But you need to balance this negative off against the long terms unemployed who are taking tax payers money having been irresponsible. That to me is a bigger negative. Also the £70k example. In the majority of the country people can get by on less than that. If you are in trouble, you reduce your expenses and expectations to reflect your current position. You dont rely onthe state to maintain your lifestyle. Thats half the problem, people expect the state to intervene in too many scenarios at the cost of the responsible tax payer.

As a starting point, if you have not been employed from the date of the introduction of the removal of the cap for at least 1 year you can't benefit from it. Why would that not work?

Ok, I've explained that coming up with the rules isnt insurmountable. Such rules are applied by Government across a Miriad of policies, including welfare. Is your point that introducing such thresholds is insurmountable, even though such thresholds are applied in many other areas of life?!

That is the detail of the policy that can be worked out and rules could clearly be made. A cannot see how your questions are insurmountable as such thresholds are already placed on people in relation to other benefits and taxes for example. The point being is that the Government has not introduced anything to stop long term unemployed people who have had too many kids from claiming the benefit and you havent given any rationale for it and neither has the Government. Why?

Firstly in most places, £80k is too high. My beef isnt that you shouldnt help employed families who are struggling (we should) but why long term unemployed should benefit from it. Why not have a policy which means that if you are working but below a specific salary (lower than £80k) the two child cap is removed. That would help those responsible people who are in employment. It may even possibly even encourage some people with more kids who are unemployed into employment to obtain the benefit. Why are people in long term unemployment allowed to access it if they have not been responsible in pro creating?

I'm not sure about that, they knew it was a big issue. I agree the Tories did a bad job on migration and Labour have been left holding the baby. However, I think its more likely they ignored it because they knew it wouldnt be an electable proposal, in the same way that it caused problems for Blair when he suggested it.

If you are employed or have a joint or single salary below £X (possibly on a tiered basis) why couldnt you introduce tax breaks to those people. They are responsible but are struggling and deserve help. That way you avoid encouraging the irresponsible who would have more children as a result of the policy to be covered by the tax payer. Why did the Government not introduce a policy like this?