TORY plans to cut £12bn from welfare without affecting the poorest in society have been labelled “ridiculous”, as Iain Duncan Smith told voters it was not “relevant” to announce where the cuts would be implemented.
The Work and Pensions Secretary said that the government “may, may not decide” to set out how they plan to slash the welfare budget.
Douglas Alexander, Shadow Foreign Secretary, also refused to say how Labour would implement their proposed cuts, meaning it is likely voters will not know how either major party will implement cuts till after the General Election.
When pressed, both Westminster politicians refused to admit where the money would be cut from and instead attempted to focus on the positives of their respective election campaigns.
John Dickie, director of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland predicted the latest blow to the welfare state will “hurt the most vulnerable people” and said the suggestion that the poorest in society would not suffer was “ridiculous”.
He said: “You can’t just announce £12bn of cuts and not be clear where that’s going to come from”.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Duncan Smith claimed no decisions had been made on which areas will be hit, although those who rely on disability and child benefits are expected to face significant cuts.
Duncan Smith said: “(Voters) know for certain that we are going to save that £12 billion. We may, we may not, decide that it’s relevant to put something out there about some of those changes. As and when the time is right, we will make it very clear what our position is. A quarter of what we need to save is already out there. That’s a good indication that we know where we are going to go to be able to make those savings,” he added.
Dickie said: “The idea that you can cut 12bn from welfare without it affecting low income families and families affected by disability is ridiculous. Whatever route you go down to cut £12bn is going to take money out of the pockets of people who are already struggling massively due to the scale of the cuts in tax credits that have already been pushed through.”
Dickie called for a more progressive tax system to be put in place, saying this government’s actions have been behind the forecasts of increased child poverty. He said: “This government needs to get a far better balance between ensuring that those who are doing well and experiencing recovery, although they never suffered through this economic crisis in the first place, are paying more in through a more progressive tax system.”
“Cuts that have been made in this parliament are what lie behind the massive increases in child poverty forecast for the years ahead. We have to stop taking money out of the pockets of our poorest households.”
“The idea that you can do this in some way which is painless is unbelievable really,” he said.
Director for the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), Paul Johnson, said there would be “pretty dramatic” reductions in welfare payments, adding that the cuts will be “really tough”.
He said: “They’ve said £12 billion of cuts and they’ve said they want to achieve that within the first three years of the Parliament and they’ve said they want to protect pensions.”
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