50,000 back MP’s petition for a wealth tax to raise cash instead of welfare cuts

A petition by a left-wing Labour MP calling for the government to abandon its welfare reforms in favour of a wealth tax has been backed by more than 48,000 people in recent weeks.

Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East who was only recently re-admitted to the party for rebelling, has hit out at the decision to “slash disability benefits instead of taxing extreme wealth” and claimed that a two percent wealth tax on assets over £10m would raise up to £24bn per year.

The petition reads: “We call on the government to abandon these cruel cuts and, instead of punishing the poorest, to implement a wealth tax on the very wealthiest.”

Burgon, who had the whip withdrawn for six months after backing an SNP amendment to scrap the two child benefit cap, has said he will vote against the government’s welfare reforms when they go before Parliament.

He told LabourList that there is “widespread opposition” to the reforms amongst Labour MPs, the wider party and the general public.

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‘There are fairer, more Labour, ways forward’

Burgon said: “If the government doesn’t drop these plans, it will face a rebellion far larger than it could have ever imagined when it won its majority last year.

“Many MPs have told me they will vote against these cuts. But they haven’t spoken out publicly yet because they hope the government will see sense and reconsider.

“While some MPs are concerned that this issue will see them losing their seats, for many this goes beyond an electoral issue – it’s a moral one. Labour MPs didn’t enter politics to make life even harder for disabled people.

“My petition is part of a growing public campaign urging the government to rethink and abandon these plans. There are fairer, more Labour, ways forward. The government should be taxing the wealthiest through a wealth tax.

“Soaring inequality in our economy means it has been boom-time for those at the top while millions are struggling with soaring costs of living. It’s only right that the very wealthiest are made to pay their fair share, rather than attempting to balance the books on the backs of the poor and disabled.”

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More than 20 Labour MPs have signalled they will not support the welfare reforms when Parliament votes on them in June, while a dozen Labour MPs, as well as union leaders, have called for a tax on extreme wealth.

But the government has previously defended reforms to welfare as taking “decisive action to fix the broken benefits system”.

MPs supportive of the government have also pointed out that, since taking office, Labour has hiked taxes on the wealthiest with the abolition of the non-dom regime, inheritance tax changes and scrapping the VAT exemption for private schools.

The Treasury was approached for comment.

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