A PUBLIC split has broken out between John Redwood, the Secretary of State for Wales and Pe. ter Lilley, Secretary of State for Social Security.
The Cardiff Conference organised by the Conserva. tive Political Centre aimed about the welfare state heard Redwood argue:
'It must be right, before granting state ald, to pursue the father and see whether it is possible for him to tion, or even a fuller contribution by offering the normal love and support that fathers have offered LOCAL O down the ages to their families'.
Peter Lilley rejected Redwood's suggestions saying. "There is no question of us changing the benefit rules though it certainly is desirable that people should not become dependent on state Redwood wants to build on the recent legislation in- list'. troduced in the form of the Child Support Act. Trotting out the same old Tory propaganda he said.
What is more worrying is the trend in some places for young women to have babies with no apparent intention of even trying marriage or a stable relationship with the father of the child'.
List
Whilst Redwood and Lilley were split on the is. sue of benefits it should be Lilley who recited a little list' of social security "fraudsters' at last year's Tory conference including 'young romen who get pregnan! ust to jump the housing In fact government figures show that of the 895,000 single parents clalming benefit in 1991, only 45,000 were mothers between 16 and 19.
Peter Lilley is also believed to be considering proposals to force young single mothers to provide a court order to prove they have been thrown out of their parents' home before they can claim benefit.
The Tories are thinking the unthinkable and as they wrangle over the best way to dismantle the welfare state it is some of the poorest women who are in the firing line. ices as diverse as contraception. abor tion, childcare and safe public transport has heen massively undermined.
This split between women is partly a class divide but it can now be seen between women working in similar jobs in the private or public sector, and between women with of without dependents. This division also masks the fact that attacks on the public sector are de facto attacks FEATURE on women's rights.
Building an effective alliance between workers in the public sector and the users of public services is vital for the defence At the same time it raises questions about the nature of councils as the local state of women's oppression, the reason for women's responsibility for the reproduction of the family and how women can actually begin to realise the formal rights they have won over the last 2 This inevitably leads to discussions about the kind of society which can realise the liberation of women.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 46, July 10 1993. Page 12