Leicester South MP Calls Highfields Summit

Jon Ashworth, Labour MP for Leicester South, calls Highfields summit on benefit cuts following Tuesday’s vote on cuts to benefits and tax credits.

On Tuesday 8 January Jon voted against the Government’s Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill that will deliver a real terms cuts to benefits and tax credits.

Jon said: “This week in the Commons I voted against Government proposals to cut in real terms the tax credits and benefits that thousands of people across Leicester rely on to help make ends meet.”

“Expert analysis from the Resolution Foundation Think Tank shows that 68% of households affected by the Government’s cuts are in work, and that a typical couple with two children, with the single earner being a primary school teacher earning £600 per week, will lose £424 a year by 2015.”

“These cuts will have a huge impact on thousands of families across Leicester many of whom are already struggling because of the current economic climate. It’s a particularly unfair cut when the government is set to hand millionaires a massive tax cut later this year.”

“I’m particularly worried about how local people will cope with these cuts and further welfare changes in April of this year, so I’ve called a summit of agencies and community groups working in Highfields to discuss the impact of the changes on local people.”

“I’m grateful to The Race Equality Council for helping to organise this meeting. In April the ‘bedroom tax’ is introduced, Council Tax Benefit is abolished and there will no longer be Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants from the Social Fund. These changes will hit the people of Highfields and all of Leicester.”

“All agencies need to come together to raise awareness of these cuts and changes and to work together to mitigate the adverse consequences. I hope that the meeting on Friday will go some way to meeting this aim.”

www.jonashworth.org

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