Lib Dem MP says benefits cap will ‘damage families’

Simon Hughes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, has said that putting a £26,000 a year cap on household benefits, which The House of Lords is due to debate, will “damage the lives of hundreds of thousands of children”.

The £500 a week cap would come in from 2013 as part of the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill.

The Bill, however, has fallen victim to a number of setbacks in the Lords, with the Government losing important votes on benefit cuts.

Mr Hughes said he didn’t think the Bill would get through the Lords at present and told the BBC that he supported the “principle” of a benefits cap and that expenditure on welfare had to be “curbed”.