David Cameron says he will stop the welfare merry-go-round

Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to end what he called the “ridiculous merry-go-round” of taxing low earners only to give them generous welfare handouts.

 

Speaking at a school in Cheshire, the Prime Minister said yesterday: “We need to move from a low wage, high tax, high welfare society to a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare society.”

 

Cameron’s comments came just one day after chancellor George Osborne and work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith announced their intention to push ahead with plans to cut £12bn a year in welfare spending. Osborne said on Sunday the government would deliver on its campaign promise to reduce the benefit cap from £26,000 to £23,000, adding that further details about changes to in-work benefits would come in the summer budget next month.

 

The opposition attacked the government’s positions yesterday, with shadow chancellor Chris Leslie demanding the PM specify the exact cuts he is proposing, saying he “concealed his proposals from public view throughout the election campaign”.

 

“It is time for him to spell them out and let people judge whether or not they are fair,” Leslie said.