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Lib Dems promise to help families Lib Dems attack benefits culture
(about 5 hours later)
The Liberal Democrats are promising to help families stay together by ending the "bias" against couples in the taxation system. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell has attacked Britain's "dependency culture" and said more single parents should be seeking work.
Leader Sir Menzies Campbell will say the party would introduce a "couples' premium" into the child tax credit. People should be given education and a chance to help themselves, but instead millions were being trapped into living on benefits, said Sir Menzies.
He will also promise to set the child benefit level for all children to that of the first-born, costing £1.7bn. He said lone parents should return to work when their youngest child is 12 - not 16 as currently.
The party will encourage lone parents to return to work when their youngest child is 12, Sir Menzies will say. And he said he wanted to end the "bias" against couples in the tax system.
'Discourage dependency' In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research, Sir Menzies said his party was studying how to end the current tax incentives for couples with children to split up. Simpler benefits
There is currently "very little incentive or support for lone parents to return to work until their youngest child is 16 years old", he will add. Among ideas would be to introduce a "couples' premium" into the child tax credit.
"In most other European countries, the age at which parents are expected to look for work is considerably lower" He also wants to simplify the welfare system by halving the number of benefits from 50 to 25.
The Liberal Democrats must be a party not only of the affluent and compassionate middle classes, but of those struggling to make ends meet Sir Menzies Campbell And he said the Liberal Democrats wanted to increase child benefit for all children, to the level of the firstborn, at a cost of £1.7bn.
Returning earlier "might discourage dependency and reduce child poverty too", Sir Menzies is expected to argue. We should be giving people an education and a chance. Instead, we are giving them a benefit book and a 30 page claim form Sir Menzies Campbell
He will tell the Institute for Public Policy Research that the state should "stop encouraging" couples to split up, adding: "This is not about the state telling people how to live their lives. "Gordon Brown's strategy of mass means-testing is undermining work, saving and families," he said.
"But it is about removing the financial penalty that low-income parents incur if they choose to stay together." "It is not sustainable - it risks trapping millions of people in a dependency culture.
The Lib Dems estimate that setting child benefit at the same level for all will move 300,000 children out of poverty. "We should be giving people an education and a chance. Instead, we are giving them a benefit book and a 30 page claim form.
Sir Menzies will say the party must "take the fight for a fairer Britain into the mainstream of British politics and into the heartlands of the Labour Party". "Unless we create a society where the state assists people to improve themselves we will never be able to eliminate poverty."
He will add: "The Liberal Democrats must be a party not only of the affluent and compassionate middle class, but of those struggling to make ends meet." 'Labour heartlands'
He said questions ought to be asked about a benefit system which provided little incentive or support for lone parents to return to work, until their youngest child was 16.
In most other European countries the age was "considerably lower", he said.
Returning earlier "might discourage dependency and reduce child poverty too", Sir Menzies said.
Sir Menzies said the party must "take the fight for a fairer Britain into the mainstream of British politics and into the heartlands of the Labour Party".
Last week, Conservative leader David Cameron said couples should be "encouraged to get together and stay together", possibly with the help of changes to taxation.Last week, Conservative leader David Cameron said couples should be "encouraged to get together and stay together", possibly with the help of changes to taxation.
This followed a report by previous leader Iain Duncan Smith which found family splits caused social problems costing £20bn. This followed a report by ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith which said family splits caused social problems costing £20bn.
In October Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton pledged a "new deal" for two-parent families, saying they had been largely invisible because all the help had been focused on lone parents.