Duncan Smith backs child benefit cut

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has offered support for the idea that families should only be able to claim child benefit for their first two offspring. He told the Sunday Times: 'It’s a brilliant idea'.
 
According to the Daily Mail, a 'source close to Mr Duncan Smith' said he backs the idea (proposed by a member of David Cameron's policy board) in part because it would force parents on benefits to consider whether they could afford children, rather than expecting taxpayers to pick up the tab. The source reportedly said: 'Iain has sympathised with this idea for some time. He thinks it's a serious money saver. And he believes that people on benefits should have to make the same choices as other people normally do. It is slightly infantilising unless you make people make those choices themselves'.
 
The Daily Mail said that the idea is being examined for possible inclusion in the Conservative Party's 2015 election manifesto. Restricting the benefit would cut spending by around £5 billion a year.
 
SourceDaily Mail, 13 January 2014
LinksDaily Mail report

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