(UK) Welfare bill defeated in Lords
The government suffered a sixth and huge defeat on its welfare bill when peers overwhelmingly backed calls to prevent single parents being charged to use the child support agency.
Ministers suffered one of the heaviest defeats of the parliament as the lords voted by 270 to 128 to reject the government proposal to charge. It had been seen as a way of discouraging single parents from using the agency to collect maintenance from their estranged partners.
The rebellion was led by the former lord chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern, and had the support of the former social security minister Lord Newton, and former Conservative Party chairman Lord Mawhinney, and many Liberal Democrats.
On Monday peers agreed amendment proposed by the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rt Rev John Packer, to remove child benefit from the £26,000-a-year cap on household benefits. But the scale of this defeat means ministers will have to rethink on this proposal.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/25/welfare-bill-defeated-lords
