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Mention in the Lords Welfare Reform debate
07 May 2009
In the House of Lords the launch of the Need NOT Greed campaign was mentioned in a speech by Lord Skelmersdale (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Conservative) during the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill (29th April)
" I therefore agree with the Freud report which says that the ideal would be for a single out-of-work benefit. If this becomes reality, I, for one, will welcome it, as I am sure will all those who fall into welfare whether they are able bodied or disabled, and so, too, will their advisers. I shall return to this theme later both today and in later stages of the Bill, not least because it was highlighted by speakers of the "Need not Greed" campaign launched in this House in February." Read in full here
Baroness Hollis of Heigham also mentioned the 'grey economy' in the same deabte:
" ...entirely up to chance whether together her jobs take her over 16 hours and into tax credits-good news. If they do not and she cannot make up the 16 hours, she may, alas, draw her benefit and enter the *grey economy*. We are then surprised about the fraud in the system-fraud that we have helped to construct. Why? Because we have a perverse benefit structure that allows her to keep..." Read in full here