Anti-Gambling, Labour MPs and the Budget
On Wednesday, the Labour frontbench and backbench came together to attack gamblers and the gambling industry
Earlier this year, over 100 backbench Labour MPs signed a letter to the UK Chancellor. It urged her to tackle child poverty by lifting the cap on child benefit and paying for it via an increase in gambling taxes.
If we take those concerns about child poverty at face value, then we have to ask two things:
Why did none of those Labour MPs vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap when they previously had the opportunity to do so last year?
Why did the two lead MPs in this group not celebrate the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, but instead gleefully post a video on social media about how great it was that gambling was going to be taxed more in the coming years?
No other answer is more compelling than this one:
They are anti-gambling.
You will often find people in the debate about gambling who insist they have nothing against gambling. I usually take people’s word for it, and judge them on things they say or policies that they propose. I’m not going to tar all of those MPs who went along with Ballinger and Cooper with the same brush, but I will judge them by what they prioritise in their own messaging on this issue, and to what extent they take ownership of their actions.
In the case of Ballinger and Cooper, their post-budget celebratory messaging was sickening to watch. While they could not hold back their joy about the successful attack on gambling and the gambling industry, job losses were being declared in the industry, cuts in the sponsorship of horse racing was being announced by betting companies, and those speaking up for gamblers were saying this budget was bad news.
Disingenuous
It was disingenuous of Ballinger, Cooper (and many others) to pretend their reasons for wanting gambling taxes to be increased was connected with children, families and poverty. On budget day, it became obvious that they are just anti-gambling, and we should not pretend otherwise.