Osborne to slash an extra £10 billion from the welfare (From St Helens Star)
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Chancellor George Osborne to slash an extra £10 billion from the welfare budget
8:41am Monday 8th October 2012 in News
Chancellor George Osborne
The Government is to press ahead with plans to slash an extra £10 billion from the welfare budget by 2016-17, on top of the £18 billion cuts already under way, Chancellor George Osborne will say on Monday.
Mr Osborne has secured the agreement of Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to the savings, which he said in his March Budget would be necessary in order to avoid additional cuts in other Whitehall departments.
Among the payouts which look set to be targeted is housing benefit for the under-25s, who Prime Minister David Cameron has previously said should live with their parents if they cannot afford to fund their own home.
Mr Duncan Smith is understood to have initially resisted the cuts proposal, arguing that savings should be found by means-testing benefits such as free bus passes and winter fuel payments for wealthy pensioners.
But in a joint article on Monday, he and Mr Osborne said they have reached agreement that the savings can be found without touching the universal benefits for pensioners.
"We are both satisfied that this is possible and we will work together to find savings of this scale," they wrote, rejecting the alternative options of cuts to economically-productive spending, higher taxes, or more borrowing and debt.
The announcement, to be spelt out in Mr Osborne's keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, will set the Tories on collision course with their Liberal Democrat coalition partners.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told his own party's conference last month that he would not allow "wild suggestions" of a £10 billion cut in welfare, while Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told delegates: "We simply will not allow the books to be balanced in a way that hits the poorest hardest".
Mr Osborne will say that a further £16 billion of savings must be found in 2015/16 alone to meet his target of balancing the nation's books within five years, and he will make clear that sums of this magnitude cannot be found simply by increasing taxes on the rich.
Both the Chancellor and Prime Minister David Cameron indicated that the rich will be expected to "pay their fair share" towards deficit reduction, but ruled out the introduction of a "wealth tax" such as the mansion tax on expensive properties favoured by the Lib Dems.
In Monday's speech, Mr Osborne will argue that while the Government should not attempt to balance the budget on the backs of the poorest, it is an "economic delusion" to think it can be balanced on the wallets of the richest. It is wrong to have a welfare state where those who live on benefits can be better off than those who have a job, he will argue.
Comments(63)
PM
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1:30pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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2:09pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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2:17pm Mon 8 Oct 12
pitbullboxing
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3:04pm Mon 8 Oct 12
chasmcn
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3:13pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey wrote:Why not slash Trident that would save a few billion ,who now are we aiming at a pile rocks in Afghanistan .In 2010 we were all in this together the only people to have a tax cut are the rich which is always what the tories look after .you are fooling your self sankey if you think the tories care for the ordinary folk .
I thought it was very clever positioning by the Tories and once the dust settles next few weeks Labour will be seen as a return to the bad old days of union power and the Tories are the party of those who want to better themselves in life. Most people today are not tribal in voting most of the big political parties have small memberships these days. The striver will be the majority of the population I believe and the Tories are open to this Labour have retreated to their home base of welfare and unionised state employees. My only disappointment is I would like to have seen more from osbourne on public sector reform.
To get people off benefits you need to create growth in the economy when he came to power he inherited growth its him that took us back into a recession , Where are all the business leaders that wrote a letter to the Times telling us that Osborne is the man .At this moment they are all sat £750 billion pounds as they dont see any growth in the economy to invest in,So he comes up with more austerity .He tells us how the poor have to pay i have not heard how the rich are going pay .
Sankey
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3:15pm Mon 8 Oct 12
frankly
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3:16pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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3:24pm Mon 8 Oct 12
chasmcn
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3:30pm Mon 8 Oct 12
From April 2013, if you live in council accommodation or other social housing and are assessed as having at least one extra bedroom in your house, your Housing Benefit could be reduced by:
14% if you have 1 extra bedroom
25% if you have 2 or more extra bedrooms .
frankly
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3:31pm Mon 8 Oct 12
chasmcn
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3:41pm Mon 8 Oct 12
frankly wrote:My day off and i have worked for 35yrs and claimed unemployment benefit once for six weeks back in 1981 after i came out of my apprenticeship and my employer would not pay me the going rate so i left.
i often wonder, when i read these threads, how many posters are on benefits, considering that we get replies 24/7..No need to ask me, i am retired so i am on a paid for retirement pension
frankly
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3:54pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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3:59pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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4:05pm Mon 8 Oct 12
chasmcn wrote:Whats wrong with that Chas?
So we are to have no Manison Tax but a person over 35 or a married couple on a low wage living a in a rented 3 bedroom house and are in receipt of housing benefit are to lose £11 a week or more.
From April 2013, if you live in council accommodation or other social housing and are assessed as having at least one extra bedroom in your house, your Housing Benefit could be reduced by:
14% if you have 1 extra bedroom
25% if you have 2 or more extra bedrooms .
chasmcn
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5:00pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey wrote:its people who are working on a low wage being thou no fault of their own penalised why dont the employers pay a decent wage then people dont need benefit to pay their rent . Their empolyers are the ones living in the mansions paying no tax paying crap wages mostly to people part time as its the only job available yet they are losing out .
chasmcn wrote:Whats wrong with that Chas?
So we are to have no Manison Tax but a person over 35 or a married couple on a low wage living a in a rented 3 bedroom house and are in receipt of housing benefit are to lose £11 a week or more.
From April 2013, if you live in council accommodation or other social housing and are assessed as having at least one extra bedroom in your house, your Housing Benefit could be reduced by:
14% if you have 1 extra bedroom
25% if you have 2 or more extra bedrooms .
Sankey
says...
5:22pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Clearly Chasmcn you have never run a small to medium business and put your house on the line. Not everybody who is an employer lives in a mansion in fact I think you might find a lot are paid less than the employees they are struggling to keep in work. This clearl;y shows the Labour mindset of hatred of enterprise which is why there are no jobs and the country is drowning in debt.
And what is a mansion? I think you will find it quickly trickles down to become a house tax. E.g you own your own house you are taxed on it in addition to council tax.
chasmcn
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6:06pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey wrote:you best watch this tonight
Employers living in mansions paying no tax what purile class hatred nonsense.
Clearly Chasmcn you have never run a small to medium business and put your house on the line. Not everybody who is an employer lives in a mansion in fact I think you might find a lot are paid less than the employees they are struggling to keep in work. This clearl;y shows the Labour mindset of hatred of enterprise which is why there are no jobs and the country is drowning in debt.
And what is a mansion? I think you will find it quickly trickles down to become a house tax. E.g you own your own house you are taxed on it in addition to council tax.
Dispatches | Secrets of Your Boss's Pay | Channel 4
With the chiefs of British business now taking home 180 times the average working wage in the UK, Dispatches follows the former Greggs chief executive Sir Michael Darrington as he launches a campaign to halt corporate greed.
chasmcn
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6:06pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey wrote:you best watch this tonight
Employers living in mansions paying no tax what purile class hatred nonsense.
Clearly Chasmcn you have never run a small to medium business and put your house on the line. Not everybody who is an employer lives in a mansion in fact I think you might find a lot are paid less than the employees they are struggling to keep in work. This clearl;y shows the Labour mindset of hatred of enterprise which is why there are no jobs and the country is drowning in debt.
And what is a mansion? I think you will find it quickly trickles down to become a house tax. E.g you own your own house you are taxed on it in addition to council tax.
Dispatches | Secrets of Your Boss's Pay | Channel 4
With the chiefs of British business now taking home 180 times the average working wage in the UK, Dispatches follows the former Greggs chief executive Sir Michael Darrington as he launches a campaign to halt corporate greed.
Sankey
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6:17pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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6:36pm Mon 8 Oct 12
pitbullboxing
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6:49pm Mon 8 Oct 12
chasmcn
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6:51pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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7:10pm Mon 8 Oct 12
chasmcn
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7:25pm Mon 8 Oct 12
people in low paid jobs are looking for a better job its natural but in this recession its madness to take money from the poorest members of our society every penny they earn goes into the local shops ,etc they don't earn enough to save so the poorest sections of country will be hit by this stupid ill thought out policy
Sankey
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8:31pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Sankey
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10:03pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Harrybradbury
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11:16pm Mon 8 Oct 12
The crime rate will rocket as people with no money will turn to burglary,and theft,you will see social breakdown on a huge scale,as the status quo is being turned on it,s head,but it,s the bottom of society that is expected to pay the price.
I don,t see any solution to our present problem,s as we have been badly let down by our political pygmies over the last five decades who have failed to plan on every aspect of our country,s future,for short term political convenience,i dread to think of the true price we are going to pay for this neglect,if Britain was a buisiness we would have been bankrupted many year,s ago,but we are now selling what,s left of the family silver,B.A.E. system,s if it goes,myself i fear we are past the point of no return,and fast heading for third world status.
chasmcn
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7:49am Tue 9 Oct 12
Sankey wrote:The Tories are attacking people who are not workshy they are working receiving a low wage not idle sat on the dole i agree cut their money if making no effort to get a job a part time job even but i see no sense in cutting the housing benefit to a part time worker on a low wage they have change the rules you need to have 32 hours now to qualify not 16 and yes i support the welfare state taking it away will result in the plebs rioting ,stealing,etc like harrys letter above but that's the norm with a Tory govt .i suppose you wont be happy till we are back to the workhouse and the church giving parish relief ,doffs my cap to you sankey putting my clogs on iam off to my job happy that my contributions from my pay mean i live in a safe society for the moment .
So do we leave welfare alone then in your view ?
pitbullboxing
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9:10am Tue 9 Oct 12
Sankey
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9:15am Tue 9 Oct 12
Bill Bradbury
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10:03am Tue 9 Oct 12
Not much to add on this one as all views have been covered and cousin Harry is roughly along my view of the way things are.
Just to put things in perspective to show how lucky we are, I was in Odessa in the Crimea -Ukraine- and was told that they cannot have health inusrance and have to pay for any medication and hospital treatment at a rate the majority of the population cannot afford. As a result the average age for men at death is 60 and 70 for women.
Despite all our problems, travel makes you feel lucky to be living here-even in St.Helens.
As to the party conferences, two I have missed just the usually twaddle promising everything and doing nothing.
PS Grills Class on Cunard-wall to wall Tories, some really extreme right-wing views. Surprised they let me in!!!
Sankey
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12:59pm Tue 9 Oct 12
chasmcn
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7:20pm Tue 9 Oct 12
Sankey wrote:Did you miss the part were i say these people are working and having their benefits cut ,you do know that people who work can also claim benefits this govt is attacking them for having poor paying jobs the person you meet every day on the till in the supermarket ,the cleaner at work the shop assistant the low wage who need help to pay their rent .you say there is no money left but there was enough money to give every millionaire a tax cut of £40,0000 i bet Osborne and Cameron enjoy their tax break while the office cleaner will at lest £11 a week worst off .
When Clinton cut welfare in the states it had a dramatic effect crime reduced and people went back to work. Here in the UK I agree there is a tranche that is unemployable plus there are few jobs. I agree with Harry successive governments have put in us this mess going for short term political popularity at the expensive of the long term future of the country and the chickens have well and truly come home to roost. Chasmcn I would rather have the workhouse than those poor benefits people in Blackpool. What I think will happen if they cut benefits is crime will go up but at the same time many young people coming through will choose a productive life of employment rather than the choice of the last 10 years sit on a life of benefits. But whatever you talk as if there is a choice, the country has run out of money we simply cannot go on paying generations and millions of people to do nothing.
Seeing as you brought Clinton into the debate here is what he planed
Clinton's original plan was one part tough love and one part expanded resources. Able long-term welfare recipients would be compelled to work, but additional resources for job training, wage subsidy, and child care, as well as waivers in hardship cases, would make welfare reform an improvement on the lives of the poor, not just a cruel reduction in benefits.
keepitreel
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7:44pm Tue 9 Oct 12
chasmcn
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7:50pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing wrote:So guess you wont be voting labour if you ever were a labour supporter if you think blair or brown were socialist and the last labour govt was socialist you are entitled to your view i suggest you look at Attlee's labour govt of 1945 in fact all politicians should go and look at that govt ,they had far bigger debt then this coalition govt to deal with and in 5 years achieved more then any govt has ever achieved for its people that was socialism at work comrade
Maybe people are just fed up with socialism? You can't force somebody into voting for a party that gives their money away willy nilly? I could be wrong , but I think Labours days may be over for a good while.
Sankey
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7:57pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing
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8:34pm Tue 9 Oct 12
chasmcn wrote:That's exactly why I wont be voting for anybody in the next election. I know that may be an insult to the people that fought hard for a vote , but the way I look at it my best protest is not to vote. How will you be voting if you don't mind my asking? and were you disappointed with the last Labour government?
pitbullboxing wrote:So guess you wont be voting labour if you ever were a labour supporter if you think blair or brown were socialist and the last labour govt was socialist you are entitled to your view i suggest you look at Attlee's labour govt of 1945 in fact all politicians should go and look at that govt ,they had far bigger debt then this coalition govt to deal with and in 5 years achieved more then any govt has ever achieved for its people that was socialism at work comrade
Maybe people are just fed up with socialism? You can't force somebody into voting for a party that gives their money away willy nilly? I could be wrong , but I think Labours days may be over for a good while.
pitbullboxing
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8:36pm Tue 9 Oct 12
chasmcn
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8:47pm Tue 9 Oct 12
chasmcn
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9:41pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing wrote:i will always use my vote was i disappointed in the last labour govt yes they offered crumbs of socialism ,but followed too many neo-libreal policy's in my view brown admits now they sucked up to the city of london too much being scared to regulate the banking system after Thatcher deregulate it was a massive mistake .Milliband says he will do this split the banks up and stop the casino banking .i liked the investment in the NHS and education we now under this govt have the lowest money spent on education since 1953 ,I enjoyed my mortgage going down with labour handing over the interest rates set by the bank of england rather then a political tool like Tories used it, so for 13yrs of my mortgage i paid a lot less and was felt well off to afford nice things in life not scraping by paying my mortgage like i was under the tories for the first 10 years of it ,i wish the labour party was more left wing renationalisation of the utility's of water ,power and gas these life essentials should be controlled by the state and the profit going back into the country .
chasmcn wrote:That's exactly why I wont be voting for anybody in the next election. I know that may be an insult to the people that fought hard for a vote , but the way I look at it my best protest is not to vote. How will you be voting if you don't mind my asking? and were you disappointed with the last Labour government?
pitbullboxing wrote:So guess you wont be voting labour if you ever were a labour supporter if you think blair or brown were socialist and the last labour govt was socialist you are entitled to your view i suggest you look at Attlee's labour govt of 1945 in fact all politicians should go and look at that govt ,they had far bigger debt then this coalition govt to deal with and in 5 years achieved more then any govt has ever achieved for its people that was socialism at work comrade
Maybe people are just fed up with socialism? You can't force somebody into voting for a party that gives their money away willy nilly? I could be wrong , but I think Labours days may be over for a good while.
Capitalism has fed and clothed more people than socialism ever will
why was socialism born if this comment is true why did nations have to take up arms to gain freedom for their people you live in a country that has benefited from socialism the rights we have come from our fore bears fighting for them
socialist created the NHS and the welfare state that benefits everyone in work or out of work when all the rights we have now are gone what do you think the world will look like ?
Harrybradbury
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9:43pm Tue 9 Oct 12
We are already seeing China flexing it,s muscle against it neighbour,s in the China sea,s over ownership of island,s, but really it,s the oil and gas beneath them,and China as a old score to settle with Japan,but the Phillipine,s and others are just a irritation for now,and they have formed a alliance with Russia over Syria,sooner or later they will test the U.S.resolve,knowing that a lot of this is Bushes legacy for entering two unnecessary war,s, and the fact they owe China 2 trillion dollar,s so somewere down the line something as got to give.
Our problem is small by comparison,but the seismic plates are pushing against each other here,and across Europe,what was that song,"There will be trouble ahead" "Sweet Dream,s".
chasmcn
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9:55pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing
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10:11pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing
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10:12pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing
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10:14pm Tue 9 Oct 12
http://www.wnd.com/2
008/11/81349/
pitbullboxing
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10:30pm Tue 9 Oct 12
chasmcn
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10:51pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing wrote:Of course it does its a service why does the NHS have to make a profit its a service to keep the nation well and healthy funded out of the taxes we all pay well the plebs pay why have capitalist moved in to make a profit what money have we run out of ?.its the rich that dont pay their taxes
You know the welfare state and the NHS , they require money , that doesn't come from money fairies. Socialism is great - until you run out of other peoples money!
chasmcn
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11:00pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing wrote:£3 trillion i thought the whole debt of the nation was a trillion, iam not ok with PFI but all partys are sign up to it so you best get used to it .WRVS Ah well when you have to make a profit you dont want people giving free tea and bekkies when you can rent out the space to a costa fortune cafe thats capitalism
I liked the investment in the NHS too - until I found out that whiston was 3 trillion pound in debt , and all the good people who had volunteered there at WRVS and the like were shown the door with not even so much as a pat on the back. how very socialist!
chasmcn
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11:08pm Tue 9 Oct 12
pitbullboxing wrote:explains the conversion i had with my friend who has just come back from San Francisco and could not get over the amount of beggers and homeless people living rough ,with my views i dont think they would allow me into america i would be a commie lol
This is a good read. American , and I don't agree with all of it but still , worth a read.
http://www.wnd.com/2
008/11/81349/
Harrybradbury
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11:42pm Tue 9 Oct 12
Sankey
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8:38am Wed 10 Oct 12
Sankey
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8:42am Wed 10 Oct 12
chasmcn wrote:They were rubbish even the Labour party is not talking of bringing them back. British Leyland that was good was it?
So the nationalised industry's were rubbish . Sankey if so why were they sold off cheaply and a Tory PM say that you are selling the family silver .How Atlee can be blamed for the credit crunch in 2008 is beyond belief .
They destroyed britains industrial base something we are suffering to this day. The credit crunch was caused by a housing boom to create growth papering over the reality which was caused at Atlee's initialy policy in the 40's.
pitbullboxing
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9:18am Wed 10 Oct 12
chasmcn wrote:That's exactly why I'm voting for nobody. Because they are all the same! The rich do pay their taxes maybe not enough , but they pay more than most - and the people they employ will all pay taxes too. That's why I get more angry with benefit fraud than I do bankers. At least they bother to get up inn the morning.
pitbullboxing wrote:£3 trillion i thought the whole debt of the nation was a trillion, iam not ok with PFI but all partys are sign up to it so you best get used to it .WRVS Ah well when you have to make a profit you dont want people giving free tea and bekkies when you can rent out the space to a costa fortune cafe thats capitalism
I liked the investment in the NHS too - until I found out that whiston was 3 trillion pound in debt , and all the good people who had volunteered there at WRVS and the like were shown the door with not even so much as a pat on the back. how very socialist!
Mate I don't disagree with everything your saying and you sound like a very good type of bloke. I'm just very very cynical - about every politician.
Harrybradbury
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9:10pm Wed 10 Oct 12
Maybe it would be better if the B.B.C. dusted off the old Jackanory chair,and let each leader tell us a fairystory as there could be more truth in them than the goggle gook we,ve been fed for three weeks,but i doubt they would be paid,and they can go back to their full time job,s telling us all "Porky Pie,s".
pitbullboxing
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9:37pm Wed 10 Oct 12
Sankey
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11:14am Thu 11 Oct 12
Sankey
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4:29pm Thu 11 Oct 12
What could possibly go wrong?
Harrybradbury
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9:25pm Thu 11 Oct 12
chasmcn
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12:05am Fri 12 Oct 12
chasmcn
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5:20pm Sun 14 Oct 12
Looking forward to Tuesday when the OBR gives us its reasons why they have got the economy wrong with consistently over estimated economic growth. In March they predicted growth of 0.8% for 2012 the IMF who gideon is fond of quoting say the UK economy will be -04%
Buster41
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5:42pm Sun 14 Oct 12
Buster41
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5:46pm Sun 14 Oct 12
Buster41 wrote:in addition send all the lads who refuse do college etc on work experience like we used to, no pay but you had to do it, even cleaning streets, nobody under 21 should have benefits unless its a furthering oneself premium for staying in education. as for the elder people i truely beleive you get out what you put in so somebody whos worked 30 years and loses there job gets 3/4 of there pay after all how much have they paid in tax etc over the years, 100% more than the single mothers,drunkards, druggies.
my strategy, sterilise the girls from 13-21 so they have to go to school college etc and have an education, as for the existing women who push them out for fun for money house etc then pay for 2 like it says 2.4 children after that no more, if the father aint working then take his benefits and if you dont declare who father is thats your own fault, dont start about children in poverty etc, they choose to have the kids so put them on trial for neglect, some people working cant afford to have kids because of mortgages etc, its the real world, you dont get things for free like this generation seems to think i heard 1 girl last week say to her mate "im happy im pregnant again those ba**ards cant try and make me work for another 7 years now" aint that the true statement they abide by.
pitbullboxing says...
12:02pm Mon 8 Oct 12