WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones is calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to “put mums before millionaires” by reversing his millionaire’s tax cut and the real term cuts to maternity pay.
From this month, the Coalition Government’s changes to maternity pay will mean that, by 2015, new mums will face a real terms cut in maternity pay of £180 – a “Mummy Tax”.
At the same time 13,000 millionaires are getting a tax cut worth on average £100,000 a year.
According to Ms Jones, 1,151 new mums in Warrington North this year will want a Government that is on their side. But while David Cameron promised he would lead the most family-friendly Government ever, reality shows he is leaving new mums stranded, she claimed.
Ms Jones (pictured) said: “Families shouldn’t have to pay the price of the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition’s failed economic policies – and especially not working mums, who already face tough financial pressures when they have a new baby. Real terms cuts to maternity pay for many will be the final straw.”
New mums are already among the hardest hit by the Coalition’s tax and benefit changes, the MP claimed.
On top of the real terms cuts to child benefit and tax credit changes faced by all parents – including child benefit freezes, reductions in support for childcare and frozen tax credits – new mums have already faced the scrapping of the Health in Pregnancy Grant; the restriction of the Sure Start Maternity Grant; and the scrapping of the baby addition to the Child Tax Credit.
Figures compiled by the House of Commons Library have now confirmed that low paid new mums will lose £1,300 during pregnancy and the baby’s first year from cuts to pregnancy support, tax credits and real terms cuts to maternity pay. They are also losing a further £422 from cuts to child benefit over the same period.
Ms Jones said: “This £180 ‘Mummy Tax’ is a slap in the face from a Government that thinks that millionaires need more help than mums. David Cameron has no idea what it is like for real people trying to juggle a family budget.”
The MP is inviting people in Warrington North to sign a petition to David Cameron, calling on him to ‘help mums not millionaires’.
MP hits out over Mummy Tax
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