John Hemming, Lib Dem MP for Birmingham (Yardley) has slammed Paymaster General Dawn Primorolo's response to plans to improve Tax credits as "worse than Scrooge."

5.26.00pm GMT Wed 7th Sep 2005

John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley

John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley has slammed Paymaster General Dawn Primorolo's response to plans to improve Tax credits as "worse than Scrooge."

"Ms Primarolo", he said, "continues to manage tax credits in a way which is worse than Scrooge. If an Employer overpays someone's pay they are required to talk to them before taking back the overpayment. The government, however, simply dip into people's bank accounts and take money from them. I suggested to Ms Primarolo that they talked to people before taking money off them. First she didn't respond. Then she wrote to separate responses saying the same thing - they are thinking about it."

Mr. Hemming concluded by saying "We need action to deal with the many people pushed into poverty. Complaints take 2 weeks to get from the letterbox to the complaints department. Tax Credits need to be handled in a professional manner. If employers need to talk to employees about recovering overpayments then so should the government."