Osborne Dealt Blow as Lords Vote to Delay Tax-Credit Cuts
- Upper house backs motion calling for three-year delay to cuts
- Curbs would cost low-paid families an average of 1,300 pounds
George Osborne, U.K. chancellor of the exchequer, delivers his speech at the Conservative Party's annual conference in Manchester, U.K. on Oct. 5, 2015.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergU.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne suffered his first major setback since the general election after the unelected House of Lords voted to block his cuts to payments for low-wage families, provoking a constitutional dispute and forcing him to suggest he may soften the measures next month.
Parliament’s upper house voted Monday by 289 to 272 to effectively delay by three years reductions in tax credits paid to working people that would have cost affected families an average of 1,300 pounds ($2,000) a year. Conservative ministers had warned that the Lords would exceed their powers by overruling a financial measure passed in the lower house. Osborne, whose pitch to voters at the election was that the Tories were on the side of working people, said late Monday he’d use his Autumn Statement on Nov. 25 to soften the impact of the welfare changes.