More Than Two Kids? Forget Benefits, Says Tory Peer

BRITAIN'S first female Asian peer, Baroness Flather, has accused the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities for having too many children in order to claim more benefits.

Lady Flather, spoke in the House of Lords during the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill.

‘I really feel that after two children there should be a full raft of benefits -for the third child three-quarters and for the fourth child a half.’

The former Tory Peer said; “nobody likes to talk about it because it is supposed to be very politically incorrect."

Lady Flather, a former barrister who was born in the Lahore, Pakistan, before its partition from India, said Indian communities had "fallen into the pattern' of their adopted country, adding; “They do not have large families because they are like the Jews of old. They want their children to be educated”.

But she condemned the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities for their lack of integration, saying uneducated immigrants are still following their homeland traditions by having more children as a means of getting a ‘bigger house’.

The peer said it was time to stop using children as a means of getting more money and better accommodation, calling for a gradual reduction in benefits in order to discourage large families, suggesting payments should be reduced after the first two children.

‘I really feel that after two children there should be a full raft of benefits -for the third child three-quarters and for the fourth child a half.’

Her comments are likely to trigger huge debate.

The Welfare Reform Bill aims to cap the amount of benefits one family can received at around £26,000, to ensure claimants do not get paid more than the average income for working families.

The bill is the biggest change of the benefits system for 60 years.