£23,000

Gideon has a personal fortune of £4 million. Nice. He still felt the need to flip his homes and claim for DVD copies of his own speech. Not so nice. He has two children, an Hon as a wife and a baronetcy to inherit some day.In Tipperary. Isn't Tipperary in the Republic so how does that work? Anyway. As I was saying not only is Gideon extremely fortunate but he also earns around £135,000 and has a grace and favour home perfect for birthday parties. But even when he was just a plain MP (the good old days) he earned £65000. So how exactly does he calculate that £23,000 is the cut off point for child tax credit for a working couple with one child. Ah yes we are indeed all in this together.

It never felt exactly fair that a couple with a combined income of £23 000 got the same amount of tax credit as a couple on £50 000 but this little gem, hidden away in the detail of the budget shows Gideon for exactly what he is. I would like to see him raise his children on that income! The truth is that it is not much money for a young family burdened with student loans, mortgages, council tax, other rising bills, 20% VAT (sigh)plus the costs of feeding, clothing their children. Of course if you want your child to have any of the many activities no doubt enjoyed by the fortunate offspring of a True Blue Tory you need to have the time, transport and cash to take them swimming, or to Brownies (let alone suzuki violin, mandarin lessons or ponyclub). Possible on £23,000. Impossible. I've tried it.

A Recessionary Cautionary Tale
Once upon a time I lived in a DINK fairytale(dual income no kids). I lived in a tiny flat on the outskirts of London where I enjoyed my DINK lifestyle to the full - holidays, weekends away, meals out, new clothes. Not that extravagant really, it was budget airlines and more Pizza Express than Nobu but fun.

Then I had the one and only and moved up North to an insanely overpriced historically picturesque small city. I moved for D's job, foolishly assuming that I would be able to find a part time professional job. Ha ha ha. D brought in just £24 000, I did a year part time evening work at a book store on minimum wage. The only other part time work in this beautiful, economically static small city was admin so badly paid that it wouldn't have covered the cost of nursery.And no, Gideon, I am not lazy I just couldn't bear the idea of a nursery raising my child. And we sank. The bills just added up to more than our incomings and we had jettisoned all the DINK luxuries long before. It was the aforesaid mortgage, council tax etc etc that was killing us.

A respite. D got a promotion that required him to be in London all week - but having left we couldn't afford to move back. I found a pt semi professional job (back to an assistant but pt) with childcare on site. Yay! Things looked up for a whole two year, maybe just maybe we could now think about no. 2 when... Northern Rock.

Six months later we are both redundant and things are looking desperate. The redundancy is running out the mortgage is behind and there are NO JOBS. D finally gets a contract - 2 hours travel away, no pension, sick or holiday pay or stability but a job.I freelance write and withdraw from the two places I have to study Law as we can't afford the fees. A year goes by. The arrears are nearly paid off when...

His company lays off 40% of staff and natch contractors first to go. The local rag I have been putting 12 hour days in for whilst using the TV as a babysitter tells me not to worry, I have a long term future with them - just to let me go 6 weeks later when a new desperate writer shows up with all kinds of sub ed and photography skills and no pesky school pick up. We are both unemployed. No redundancy. Our savings are depleted in 6 weeks. I lie down and howl like a dog. There seems to be no way out.

Everything is in arrears. Mortgage, bills, the credit cards which we are living off. No benefits come through. I ebay everything - clothes, furniture, my beloved boots. Still no benefits. Every time the phone rings I feel sick. And its always a polite call centre employee wondering if we could just pay a little now. But how can you pay when there is NOTHING to pay with.

But one benefit does come through. Child tax credit. And its a lot - not enough to pay the bills but we can eat! Of course the downside with tax credit is it is calculated on an annual basis so as soon as we earn again we are massively in arrears with tax credit as well and haven't been been paid any for months.

No benefits. I am so ill and anxious that I just know I need cigarettes or prozac. But I worry if I admit to depression I'll never ever climb out again. And I can't afford to smoke.

And job hunting is a job! Of course we have applied to supermarkets etc to tide us over but we spend hours a day filling in forms, revamping CVS, searching for something anything.And even the supermarkets don't want us. Then Success for D - another contract and a lot less money and still no pension, sick holiday pay etc but work! Then me pt and admin but a job!

So here we are ten months later. Earning. So in debt I never ever stop worrying. Minus tax credit as we are in arrears till next year. This is the reality of recession. This is the reality of life in the golden private sector. This is the future Gideon has planned for thousands and thousands of families.

Its been grim up North.Thanks to Gideon it is about to get even grimmer