With regard to the Minister’s comments, I appreciate that she had been dealt a difficult hand and I do not envy her having to play it. She has given us a description of the baseline from which we are starting. The real baseline for this Bill is £15 billion of cuts to support for families by 2015—that is the point that we are starting from.
The Minister mentioned that there were all these benefits for parents. I was particularly confused by her citing the fact that lone parents could be better off if they work for 10 hours a week. We are talking about women on maternity leave. These are women who are already working but have given up work to have a baby. Although it may be interesting for other lone parents to work for 10 hours a week, that is hardly an answer to the impact of the Bill on people who are having babies.
The Bill is basically an assault on the living standards of people who are struggling to make ends meet at the moment, and I have heard nothing from the Minister today to make me feel any less concerned about the impact that it will have on mothers-to-be and women who have just had babies. However, given that it has been a long day and given the lateness of the hour, disappointed though I am once again in the Minister’s answer, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Crime and Courts Bill [HL]
Returned from the Commons
The Bill was brought from the Commons agreed to with amendments. It was ordered that the Commons amendments be printed.