Bishop: Govt is attacking religious leaders

Monday, 23 January 2012 11:46 AM

Rt Rev John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, comments on plans to cap benefits to the Yorkshire Post:

“I am surprised we have got this diatribe, a real attack on the bishops [from the government]. I’m surprised they have taken this aggressive line.

“We are not talking here about people who have £26,000 to spend, we are talking about people whose rent may be £300 or even more per week – and so that money is going out again.

“These are people who may well find it very difficult to pay the rent ... because rents have escalated.

“As things stand, the bill will give the same cap to people who have no children as it will to people with a number of children. It costs money to bring up children, and there need to be some payment here for that.”

Tags:
• benefits cap
,
• religion