Stephen Crabb: 'No further plans' for welfare cuts


Ministers say they will not target other benefits to pay for axing cuts to disability payments as they seek to heal a rift over last week's Budget.
Welfare Secretary Stephen Crabb made the pledge in his first speech since replacing Iain Duncan Smith, who quit with an attack on the planned cuts.
Earlier, the PM defended Chancellor George Osborne, whose Budget is missing £4.4bn earmarked for the now-axed cuts.
Labour said Mr Osborne should resign and the Budget should be withdrawn.
Both David Cameron and Mr Crabb praised Mr Duncan Smith, who said the government risked dividing society with politically-motivated spending cuts.
The new work and pensions secretary confirmed the changes to Personal Independence Payments had been cancelled and told MPs: "After discussing this issue over the weekend with the prime minister and the chancellor we have no further plans to make welfare savings beyond the very substantial savings legislated for by Parliament two weeks ago."
A Downing Street spokesman said the government would still deliver on its commitment to save £12bn from welfare by the end of the Parliament in 2020.
Mr Crabb also said the government welfare cap, branded "arbitrary" by Mr Duncan Smith, had "strengthened accountability" and its level would be reviewed in the Autumn Statement later this year.
"I am absolutely clear that a compassionate and fair welfare system should not be just about the numbers," he added.
"Behind every statistic there is a human being, and perhaps sometimes in government we forget that."
The Conservative leadership has been under fire - including from some of its own backbenchers - over the cuts to disability payments, which came at the same time as tax cuts for higher earners.
Mr Duncan Smith - who resigned on Friday - said this flew in the face of Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne's oft-repeated claim that "we are all in this together".
Mr Cameron addressed Mr Duncan Smith's attack during a statement about the European Council in the Commons on Monday afternoon.
He stressed to MPs that the Conservatives remained "modern, compassionate, one nation" party under his leadership.
He listed policies aimed at low-earners including the National Living Wage and rebuilding "sink estates", adding: "None of this would be possible if it wasn't for the actions of this government and the work of the chancellor in turning our economy around."44
The changes to Personal Independence Payments which prompted his resignation have now been shelved, and ministers plan to say how the planned £4bn savings will be found at the Autumn Statement later in the year.
Responding to Mr Cameron's statement, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised Mr Osborne's absence from the Commons chamber and said the U-turn on disability benefits had created an "enormous hole" in the Budget, adding that the package had "inequality at its core".
He did not mention Mr Duncan Smith's resignation or his parting shot at the government.
Spending
When Labour MP Liz Kendall did put Mr Duncan Smith's criticism to the PM, Mr Cameron said he was sad at his colleague's resignation, adding: "But I can guarantee that work of being a compassionate Conservative government will continue."
The changes to the Budget were the subject of an urgent question from Labour before Mr Cameron's statement.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell called on Mr Osborne to resign following Mr Duncan Smith's resignation and the furore over the PIP cuts, but Downing Street says the chancellor has the full confidence of the prime minister.
Mr McDonnell said Mr Osborne's absence from the Commons chamber "insults this House" and that Treasury Minister David Gauke had been left to "defend the indefensible".
He added: "This is no way to deliver a Budget and no way to manage an economy."
Work and pensions spending
Mr Gauke said the chancellor would be in the chamber for Tuesday's Budget debate, and said Labour was not in a position comment on "black holes" in budgets.
He said spending on Personal Independence Payments was up by £3bn since 2010, adding that the Budget "closes the gap between rich and poor and North and South".
As well as the welfare changes, Downing Street says ministers will not seek to oppose amendments to scrap the so-called "tampon tax" and an increase in VAT on solar panels.

. . . Courtesy ::: BBC
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