Jeremy Hunt said it was not the state’s role to finance those who chose to have large families The new cap on family benefits will encourage “responsibility” about the number of children people have, a cabinet minister has said.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told BBC Two’s Newsnight that the state should not support families who get more in benefits than the average family earns.
But Mr Hunt said the new ceiling was not a “penalty” on large families.
Chancellor George Osborne has unveiled proposals for a maximum limit on the amount of benefits a family can claim.
Mr Hunt said that, with the exception of the disabled, no family would receive more in benefits than the average family got from going out to work.
“The number of children that you have is a choice and what we’re saying is that if people are living on benefits then they make choices but they also have to have responsibility for those choices,” he said.
“It’s not going to be the role of the state to finance those choices.”
Mr Hunt added: “You can have children but if you are going to ask for support that is more than the average wage that people earn then we’re saying no, the state shouldn’t support that.
“That’s not fair on working people who have to pay the taxes to pay those benefits.”
The minister also said it was right to withdraw previously universal child benefit from families where one parent was paying the higher rate of income tax.
He said: “If ever there was a week when the Conservative Party and the coalition demonstrated its commitment to fairness, it’s this week when they removed child benefit from top-rate taxpayers.”
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