Tomorrow the Cabinet will decide whether to freeze benefits.
It is dispiriting that they even need to have this discussion.
If Liz Truss had any compassion, she would have understood that welfare payments need to be increased in line with inflation.
To do otherwise would be to condemn hundreds of thousands of people to poverty, including an estimated 200,000 children.
The Resolution Foundation think tank has calculated that if benefits only rise in line with earnings, as the Truss Government is considering, a disabled adult would lose £380 a year and a single parent with one child £476.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are targeting the welfare system because they lost control of the country’s finances with their disastrous mini-Budget.
The poor and vulnerable should not be paying the price for this Government’s economic incompetence.
Thankfully, there are still a few Conservative MPs with a conscience.
It is imperative that they win the Cabinet battle and persuade the Prime Minister to do the right thing.
Tory wasters
The Prime Minister claimed in her party conference speech that she believes in getting value for the taxpayer.
Her government’s record in office tells a different story. In the past year alone, Whitehall departments have written off more than £4billion on botched projects.
This is on top of the estimated £17billion lost to the taxpayer from the post-pandemic Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
It yet more evidence that the Tories cannot be trusted with the nation’s purse strings.
Hats off to Ed
Ed Sheeran made a 10-year-old fan’s day by handing him his guitar.
Young Arthur Baggett’s awed reaction to the gift made it clear that the kind-hearted gesture definitely struck a chord.
