MY reason for getting involved in politics was to make sure those people who work hard should reap the rewards of that work. They should keep more of what they earn and work should always pay.

I am proud this Government is raising the threshold at which people pay tax.

No-one should pay tax until they are earning a living wage. I am also proud this Government is capping benefits, so no-one can earn more on benefits than the average family does by going out to work.

Readers of the Sun may be familiar with the case of Paul and Amanda Tolley.

They live in a four-bedroomed bungalow in Southend Paul hasn’t worked since 1996 and is receiving a staggering £2,456 a month in benefits and tax credits. This adds up to £29,472 a year.

The average wage in the UK is £26,000, and to take home as much as this family is drawing in benefits would require a salary of more than £40,000. But if you can get levels of income this high, there is no incentive to work.

It is a rational choice to choose a life on benefits. But it isn’t sustainable and it is bleeding taxpayers dry.

So it is time to end the “something for nothing culture”. It is obscene that hard-working people in Thurrock are paying higher taxes to support a lifestyle by some benefit claimants which is better than their own.

That is why we are right to bring in the benefit cap.

We owe it to the millions of hard-working families to fix our broken benefits system.

Those who work hard and play by the rules are not treated fairly by our benefits system. It is high time they were.