IDS slams bishops on welfare reform

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has hit out at bishops trying to block his welfare reforms, accusing them of ignoring the concerns of ordinary people.

Mr Duncan Smith said the Church of England bishops, who are threatening to derail his planned £26,000 benefit cap, should think more of low-income families who try to do "the right thing".

In an interview with The Sunday Times, he acknowledged that his plans to limit the total payments any household can receive could face defeat in the House of Lords on Monday.

He urged the bishops, who are leading the opposition in the upper chamber, to rethink their objections, insisting they were not doing the poor any favours.

"The question I'd ask these bishops is, over all these years, why have they sat back and watched people being placed in houses they cannot afford? It's not a kindness," he said.

"I would like to see their concerns about ordinary people, who are working hard, paying their tax and commuting long hours, who don't have as much money as they would otherwise because they're paying tax for all of this. Where is the bishops' concern for them?

Iain Duncan Smith urged the bishops to think more of
low-income families who are 'doing the right thing'

"I would like to see a more balanced response from the bishops.

"It's all very well for the bishops to express a political opinion, but I would love them to ask about the poor people on low incomes who are working hard, whose families share rooms, who are doing the right thing."

With Liberal Democrat peers expected to vote against the plan in the Lords, Mr Duncan Smith acknowledged the result could come down to the independent "crossbenchers", including the bishops.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown said later that he favoured a benefit cap but said the welfare revamp was currently "completely unacceptable

©Press Association

Balls in public sector pay warning

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has warned public sector workers he would make no promise to reverse the freeze on their pay before the end of this parliament.

He blamed Chancellor George Osborne's "mistakes" with the economy for making such pay restraint necessary.

But he said Labour would not make commitments on public spending unless they were "responsible and credible".

Mr Balls angered unions by effectively accepting the public sector pay freeze up to 2015, the year of the planned next election.

Ed Balls-Labour's economic plan must be credible

But he said: "I can't just promise to people that I can just wave a magic wand and be able to spend more and tax less.

"I cannot make commitments now for three years' time. I won't do that, it wouldn't be credible."

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Balls said voters faced a choice between higher public sector pay or tackling rising unemployment.

"George Osborne clearly hoped he would be able to have tax cuts later in the parliament and rising public pay. It's not going to happen because of his failures," he said.

"People might expect me to come along and say 'well of course we will back higher pay'.

"It's a question of priorities. I can't say to private and public workers or to the country that Labour would put higher pay above jobs when unemployment is so high. We've got to be honest with people about the choices they face."

©Press Association