GEORGE Osborne was asked to justify the government’s “vile” and “abhorrent” policy to make women who have had a child conceived through rape prove the abuse to receive their child benefits.
Under government plans announced in Osborne’s Budget, child benefit is to be restricted to two children per woman unless the third child is conceived through rape. The government has yet to spell out exactly how a woman will have to prove that a child has been conceived through rape.
Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss today challenged the government for the seventh time on the so-called “rape clause”. She says is yet to receive an answer.
During Prime Minister’s Questions Thewliss asked Chancellor George Osborne, who was standing in for David Cameron, to drop the clause.
“Since the Chancellor’s Budget in July, I have asked time and again how he intends to make women prove, in order to qualify for tax credits, that they had their third child as a result of rape. Will he now admit that his abhorrent, vile policy is completely unworkable and will he drop the rape clause?”
Osborne said: “It is perfectly reasonable to have a welfare system that is fair not just for those who need it but for those who pay for it.
“We have identified the specific cases that the hon. Lady refers to in her question, in which women have been victims of domestic abuse—or, indeed, rape—and that is why we are consulting and discussing changes to protect vulnerable women.”
Speaking after PMQs, Thewlis said it was was clear “everyone, with the exception of this out of touch Tory Government, know that the policy is totally unworkable and utterly degrading.”
The MP said she has now written to David Cameron asking him to meet with women’s groups to discuss the policy.
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