TRADE unions and children’s charities have denounced calls from the Taxpayers Alliance and the Institute of Directors for the abolition of child benefit.
The right-wing groups issued a joint report yesterday called: ‘How to save £50 billion’, which contained 34 proposals including the freezing of pensions and public sector pay, the abolition of child maintenance allowance, the scrapping of Sure Start and the Education Maintenance Allowance and an increase in interest charges on student loans.
Unison spokeswoman told News Line: ‘There are so many devastating cuts here proposed by the Taxpayers Alliance in cahoots with the Institute of Directors which would have a devastating impact on essential services and jobs.
‘Child benefit keeps many families off the poverty line.
‘If you want to make really big savings the government should look at scrapping Trident and ID Cards and impose a payback tax on the bailed-out banks and institutions where billions have been sunk.’
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘We should be grateful to the TaxPayers’ Alliance and the Institute of Directors for spelling out exactly who the victims of public expenditure cuts will be.
‘They explode the idea that cuts can be just painless efficiency savings and reveal that the victims will be pensioners, children, students, the poor and parents.
‘Particularly striking is the absence of any cuts in the welfare state for the super-rich, such as tax relief on the huge pensions that top directors pay themselves.’
Kate Green, Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group said: ‘This report outlines deep, swingeing cuts to education, training and to support for children.
‘These policies are precisely the wrong answer to a downturn caused by unregulated casino capitalism.
‘These policies would damage children and families long after the recession is likely to have ended in the UK.
‘The Taxpayers Alliance and Institute of Directors propose abolishing child benefit, the popular, effective and well-targeted scheme on which many families rely, and replacing it with a complex, error-prone and expensive to administer, means-tested system.
‘Child benefit is the cornerstone of policy to support families, to means-test now wouldn’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater but the bath as well.
‘The answer at a time of fiscal constraint is for society to come together, but more means testing will stigmatise the poorest families more.
‘All should pay a fair share, and those with the broadest shoulders should take more of the burden.
‘The report says nothing about how resources could be more equitably raised, such as by reducing tax perks given out through low rates of tax for the wealthiest.’
National Union of Students (NUS) President Wes Streeting said: ‘At a time when many hard-working families are already struggling to support their offspring through university, it is frankly insulting for the so-called “TaxPayers Alliance” to recommend that students should have to pay a higher rate of interest on their fee loans.
‘It is also outrageous to suggest that the Education Maintenance Allowance, which helps support students from the poorest households in the country, should be abolished.
‘It would make it difficult if not impossible for many to complete their diploma, A-levels or vocational courses.
‘This report is a stark reminder that the TaxPayers Alliance does not represent the interests of ordinary people in the UK.
‘It is really an alliance of right-wing ideologues, who are seeking to restrict support and opportunities for honest, hard-working people.’
