"That's the way is has to be" says Lib Dem over welfare cuts

While the party mouthpieces regurgitate the Treasury spin on tax, the pages of the Times, Telegraph and Guardian tell quite a different story about winners and losers.

Nearly all the newspapers repeat accusations from disability & homelessness charities that George Osborne and Danny Alexander are attempting to mislead the public about the full extent to which disabled people will be affected. They estimate that new restrictions on welfare spending will come out of the Autumn Statement making the disadvantaged even more vulnerable in the next round of austerity measures.

The Guardian reports that the Institute of Fiscal Studies is predicting that the Treasury would be looking for additional savings from the welfare bill, including taking money from pensioners. They conclude that the poorest 10% of the population will see the biggest percentage drop in their incomes as a result of the measures announced by the Chancellor.

It is noticeable that no-one in the Lib Dem camp is claiming this time around to have mitigated the crackdown on welfare. If anything, the opposite has been noticeable. When challenged by Norman Smith during a live interview as to why poorer people would have to suffer just as much as the better off, Lib Dem finance spokesperson Baroness Kramer responded “That’s the way it has to be”.