THE number of girls getting pregnant and leaving school at 16 has soared since a rise in benefits to teen mums, it emerged yesterday.
A shock study has estimated an extra 45,000 babies were born to poor teenage mums in the year after Government rules were changed.

My Comment  (Well, Well who would have expected that then – certainly not the VERY WELL PAID AND SUPPOSEDLY EDUCATED MINISTERS AND MP’s WE ELECTED. (WELL YOU ELECTED – I CERTAINLEY DIDN’T) – Its was pretty obvious to us simpleton’s …………….. along with dozens of other hair brained schemes like rewarding villains with all expenses paid holidays to name just one.

Many youngsters stopped using birth control after the money went up, claims a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Between 1999 and 2003 ministers boosted the amount worst-off families could claim from £39 a week to £56.76 – an increase of 45% – due to the introduction of Working Families Tax Credit and an increase in Income Support.

The boost was equivalent to an extra 10% on the average claimant’s total household income.

It meant the benefits available to a young mum would be almost double what a couple who stayed in education at sixth form would get. The figures come weeks after Karen Matthews, 33, was convicted of kidnapping and imprisoning her daughter Shannon, nine, in Dewsbury, West Yorks.

Matthews had never worked in her life and was able to claim up to £286 a week as she had given birth to seven children by five different fathers.

Although many families benefited from the extra cash, the study found a minority of claimants apparently got pregnant to become entitled to it.

The report, Does Welfare Reform Affect Fertility?, (YOU JUST COULDN’T MAKE IT UP COULD YOU – SHOULDN’T YOU HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE CHANGING THE ALLOWANCE _ YOU CAN’T REMOVE IT NOW ((HUMAN RIGHTS)) ) stated: “We have shown that more generous Government support coincided with an increase in births among the group most affected by the reforms. We also see evidence of a decline in use of contraception. Our results indicate a sizable response in child-bearing among the group affected.”

Extracts from Daily Star 25/12/08 by tom.savage@dailystar.co.uk

The government has sold its last remaining shares in the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire to an American company.

The move means Britain no longer has any stake in the production of its Trident nuclear warheads.

We Sell Off yet another vital UK Asset

Opposition MPs have criticised the sale, but the Ministry of Defence said Britain’s “sovereign interests” had been protected.

The fee paid by California-based Jacobs Engineering has not been disclosed.

The sale of British Nuclear Fuels’ stake means Jacobs has control of one third of Aldermaston’s operating company, AWE Management.

The other two thirds were already in private hands. They are split equally between American defence giant Lockheed Martin and the British plc Serco.

Aldermaston is responsible for the production of warheads for the Trident nuclear deterrent programme and its planned replacement.

The Conservatives said the government must explain the move.

Defence spokesman Gerald Howarth said Aldermaston was “critical to Britain’s nuclear deterrent capability”.

Opposition MPs on the sale of the Aldermaston weapons plant

“I’m not anti the United States,” he told the BBC. “What I’m absolutely determined is that the United Kingdom should have total control of its independent nuclear capability.

“And I think the people of this country will want to know that… their politicians are in command of the research and development of this capability.

“We’re happy to have the support of the United States, but policy-wise it must be in the hands of the United Kingdom.”

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said: “The whole argument used for Britain having a separate weapons establishment is that this is required by the non-proliferation treaty, as technology sharing is not allowed.

“We must therefore query the rationale of a US company having a majority shareholding in AWE. How does this all square?”

The sale was announced in a one paragraph statement on the BNFL website.

The Lib Dems said it was staggering that Parliament had not been properly informed.

The safe operation of AWE will remain unaffected by the sale
Ministry of Defence spokesman

Their Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, also said it was “a terrible time” for the government to sell its share because it would not get the best possible return for it.

The Ministry of Defence insisted Britain’s strategic interests had been “taken into account”.

A spokesman said: “It is the UK government, not AWE, that sets the UK’s nuclear policy.

“UK sovereign interests remain protected at all times, as does the independence of the UK deterrent. The safe operation of AWE will remain unaffected by the sale.”

The government said it had retained a “special share” in AWE, which would enable it to fire the operators or intervene on site if necessary.

Aldermaston has been the headquarters for the UK’s atomic warhead capability for more than 50 years.  SELL OFF

Jaguar Land Rover's Indian owner Tata bought the marques in March

Sorry but there not British any longer -

“Jaguar Land Rover is in trouble. Nothing new there. Ford sold the two British carmakers for reasons beyond its own dire finances.

But what is causing jaws to drop is how readily the Indian industrial giant Tata is going cap-in-hand to the UK government asking for financial assistance, less than nine months after acquiring the brands”.

When Tata paid $2.3bn – at the time £1.15bn – for Jaguar and Land Rover, it was well aware that massive and sustained cash injections would be essential to preserve, or even rebuild, their upmarket reputations.

Jaguar Land Rover’s overall parent Tata Group is an industrial behemoth with revenues of $62.5bn and $5.4bn profits in the year to March.

Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile company and Jaguar Land Rover’s direct owner, is just one of 115 subsidiary companies listed on Tata Group’s website.

Tata must support its own companies and the British Government must not bail them out (We have nothing left anyway, we are up to our arm pits as it is)

We must always remember if we give to one then as sure as eggs are eggs others with quickly follow – please sir can we have some more springs to mind.

Give to One Give to All

Treasury Minister Jane Kennedy gives away £28 million WHY (We must all be Mad)

Migrant workers from Eastern Europe are claiming £28 million in child benefit for children who do not live in the UK.

We’ve got plenty lets give it away – Sod our pensioner’s they can do without !

Extract from Daily Express
Friday March 7,2008

We must be a registered charity to the WORLD – I must have imagined this headline it can’t be true – CAN IT?

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/37343/Migrants-receive-163-28m-child-benefit