Early evening summary
- Stephen Crabb has used his debut performance at the despatch box as work and pensions secretary to announce that the government has no plans for further welfare cuts this parliament. Addressing MPs he said “we won’t be seeking alternative offsetting savings [for the £4.4bn over four years that the DWP will lose because it is not going ahead with the Personal Independence Payment cuts] and as a government we are not seeking further savings from the welfare budget.” Labour MPs subsequently said that this did not amount to a cast-iron commitment not to make any further welfare cuts before the 2020 election, and a Treasury briefing suggested that the government is keeping the option of further cuts open. But charities welcomed the announcement as a serious statement of intent. The Child Poverty Action Group said:
Stephen Crabb is to be congratulated for halting the PIP cuts and saying that there will be no more social security cuts this parliament ...
Ministers must now consult on the next steps for welfare reform to ensure that the lowest income households do not continue to subsidise gains for better off groups.
And the disability charity Scope said:
Disabled people will be relieved that the new secretary of state used his first speech to confirm that there are no plans to make further welfare cuts and that he would like to start a new conversation with disabled people.
- Ministers have refused to say how the government will fill the £4.4bn black hole left in the budget by the decision to cancel the PIP cuts. David Gauke, a Treasury minister, said the government would address this in the autumn statement.
- David Cameron has defended George Osborne in the Commons, saying that they run a “modern, compassionate, one-nation government” in his first public appearance after the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith. In his statement to MPs Cameron also went out of his way to praise Duncan Smith, in contrast to the tone he adopted when Duncan Smith resigned on Friday night. Cameron said:
[Duncan Smith] spent almost a decade campaigning for welfare reform and improving people’s life chances and he has spent the last six years implementing those policies in government. And in that time we have seen nearly half a million fewer children living in workless households, over a million fewer people on out of work benefits, and nearly 2.4 million more people in work. And in spite of having to take difficult decisions on the deficit - child poverty, inequality, pensioner poverty are all down. My honourable friend contributed an enormous amount to the work of this government and he can be proud of what he achieved.
- Cameron has told MP that there is “no prospect” of the member states allowing Turkey to join the EU for many, many years. Asked about this by the Tory MP John Redwood, he said:
I think the issue here is it’s not remotely on the cards for this to happen for many, many years to come. Every country has a veto at every stage, including this country. The French, for instance, have said they will hold a referendum on Turkish membership and 75% of the French public don’t want Turkey to join.
- Peers have voted for an amendment to the immigration bill that would force the the government to admit 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees to the UK.
That’s all from me.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
Rafael Behr, Anne Perkins, Simon Jenkins and Martin Kettle have given their verdicts on Cameron’s statement for Comment is free. You can read them all here.
Peers vote to force government to admit 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children
In the Lords the government has suffered a significant defeat; peers have voted for an amendment to force the government “as soon as possible, make arrangements to relocate 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children who are in European countries to the United Kingdom”.
The amendment was tabled by Alf Dubs, a Labour peer, was rescued from Prague and brought to this country as an unaccompanied child refugee in 1939 by Sir Nicolas Winton, the man known as Britain’s Oscar Schindler.
Peers voted for it by 306 votes to 204, a majority of 102. Dubs said the move would protect children from exploitation, people trafficking, and abuse.
Labour claims Treasury briefing undermines Crabb's pledge on no further welfare cuts
Crabb’s statement is over. But Owen Smith is raising a point of order. He quotes the tweet from the Sun’s political editor.
Treasury swiftly clarifying Crabb declaration on welfare cuts. Doesn't at all mean no more cuts in this parliament, just none planned. Ah.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) March 21, 2016
John Bercow, the Speaker, says this is not a point of order. He says Crabb can respond if he wants to. But Crabb remains in his seat.
Yvette Cooper goes next. She says Crabb may have been put in “an impossible position” by the Treasury and that he may have unintentionally misled the House. George Osborne should come to the Commons to clarify this, she says.
Bercow says Osborne is winding up the debate himself. And Osborne will probably in for the opening too, he says. Osborne can intervene then if he wants.
Labour’s Liam Byrne asks Crabb if he has been told by the chancellor his budget is set to rise by £4.4bn (the amount that would have been saved by the PIP cut, over four years).
Crabb says the budget for spending on disability is rising.
The Labour MP Karen Buck asks why Crabb put a post on his Facebook page recently saying people claiming employment and support allowance (ESA - a disability benefit) in the work-related activity group (Wrag) were “able to work” when that is not correct.
Crabb says: “Good spot - it has been corrected.”
Labour’s Helen Goodman asks Crabb if his comment about not seeking further savings from the welfare budget means he is ruling out changing the rates as which benefits are paid, or changing the eligibility criteria.
Crabb says that would amount to a cut. And that is not something the government is looking at, he says.
Crabb is still responding to questions. Labour MPs have repeatedly pressed him to explain where the money would come from to replace the £4.4bn black hole (that’s £4.4bn over four years) left by the PIP U-turn. Daniel Zeichner said that, after three hours of statements from David Gauke, David Cameron and Crabb, we still have not had an answer to that. Cat Smith made a similar point.
Crabb said George Osborne would be responding to the budget debate tomorrow. He said he had repeatedly said the government is not seeking further savings from the welfare budget.
Crabb rules out 'offsetting savings' to compensate for money lost from PIP U-turn
Crabb is still responding to questions from MPs.
Asked to clarify whether he is categorically ruling out further welfare cuts, he replies:
[Labour] are trying to tease out a commitment from this side of the chamber that there will never, ever, ever be any other changes to welfare spending every again. Well, that would be absurd, wouldn’t it? We know that there needs to carry on being reform. The commitment that I’m making today, based on conversations with the chancellor of the exchequer and the prime minister over the weekend, is that we are not going ahead with those proposed PIP cuts, we won’t be seeking alternative offsetting savings and as a government we are not seeking further savings from the welfare budget.
Updated
In his opening statement Stephen Crabb also defended the welfare cap (the self-imposed limit on overall government welfare spending). He told MPs:
It is right that we monitor welfare spending carefully. The principle of introducing a welfare cap is the right one given the huge increases in welfare spending we saw under previous Labour governments, up nearly 60%. And the reality is that if we don’t control the public finances it is always the poorest in our society that pay the biggest price. So we do need that discipline.
He said the level of the welfare cap would be reviewed at the autumn statement.
This is from the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.
Treasury swiftly clarifying Crabb declaration on welfare cuts. Doesn't at all mean no more cuts in this parliament, just none planned. Ah.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) March 21, 2016
Here is the key quote from Stephen Crabb.
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.
Yvette Cooper, the Labour former work and pensions secretary, asks Crabb to clarify whether his statement about no further welfare cuts means that there will be no cuts to replace the £1.3bn annual saving missing because of the PIP U-turn.
Crabb says he has covered this in his statement.
Owen Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, is responding to Crabb.
He welcomes Crabb to his post and welcomes the announcement about no further welfare cuts.
But he asks for clarification. Will the government reverse the £30 a week cut to disabled people claiming the employment and support allowance?
He challenges Crabb’s claim that the amount of money spend on the disabled is going up. He says spending on DLA and PIP is going down. And overall the amount spent on disability benefits has fallen by 6%, he says.
He says Labour will publish more information about these figures.
And he reminds MPs of what Iain Duncan Smith said about the government not supporting some groups because they did not vote Tory.
.@OwenSmith_MP “Never again can they claim to be a One Nation Government. Never again can the Tories claim we are all in it together.”
— Labour DWP Team (@LabourDWP) March 21, 2016
It was a powerful performance from Smith. I will post some quotes from it later.
Updated
Crabb says government has no plans for further welfare cuts
Turning to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), he says it was designed to be more flexible than its predecessor benefit, disability living allowance (DLA).
The government will not go ahead with the changes announced before the budget.
He goes on to say there will be no further welfare cuts this parliament.
- Crabb says government has no further plans for welfare cuts beyond those already announced.
Updated
Stephen Crabb's statement
Stephen Crabb has just started his statement as the new work and pensions secretary.
He begins with a tribute to Iain Duncan Smith. He came into the job with a sense of vision and achieved “some remarkable things”.
Crabb says he intends to take a One Nation approach as he builds on Duncan Smith’s achievements.
He says there are 3m more disabled people in work than in 2010.
Cameron is still responding to questions.
A few minutes ago Labour’s Jack Dromey asked for an assurance that there would be no further cuts to disability benefits in this parliament.
Cameron sidestepped the question. The government was increasing the overall amount spent on disability benefits, he said.
Cameron v Corbyn - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat
This is what some political journalists and commentators are saying on Twitter about the Cameron/Corbyn exchanges. Corbyn is attracting a lot of criticism.
From the Times’s Patrick Kidd
That was arguably Corbyn's worst yet given how good it could have been. What could Cooper, Eagle, Benn et al have done with this chance?
— Patrick Kidd (@patrick_kidd) March 21, 2016
From the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon
Yesterday I wrote a sketch suggesting that Labour should make IDS their leader. At the time, it was meant as a joke
— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) March 21, 2016
Osborne doesn't turn up for the Urgent Question. Corbyn doesn't turn up for the Statement
— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) March 21, 2016
From the BBC’s Norman Smith
Methinks Team Cameron will be mightily relieved by supportive response from Tory MPs to PM's statement..so far........
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) March 21, 2016
From the FT’s Sebastian Payne
In this statement, Corbyn seems to have no awareness of what's going on politics right now. No structure to his statement, dreadful delivery
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) March 21, 2016
From the New Statesman’s George Eaton
Corbyn repeats call for Osborne to resign. Some Labour MPs think unwise when there's no prospect of him going.
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) March 21, 2016
From the Times’s Sam Coates
Just listened again to Jeremy Corbyn. No mention of IDS. Christ.
— Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) March 21, 2016
From the Sun’s Stig Abell
Still, it is not as if IDS questioned the entire moral basis of the last 6 years of Conservative government. Why would Corbyn mention him?
— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) March 21, 2016
Labour’s Dennis Skinner asks for an assurance that this will be Osborne’s last budget. He has eight already. Only cats have nine lives, he says.
No, Cameron replies.
Labour’s Paula Sheriff, who campaigned against the “tampon tax”, says she is glad the “vagina-added tax” has been consigned to history.
Cameron says he thinks that epithet will be remembered. And he says the memory of discussing sanitary products with 27 other EU leaders will stick with him for a long time too.
Liz Kendall, the Labour former leadership contender, says Cameron say he is a compassionate Conservative. So how does he feel when a former leader of his party says that is simply not true?
Cameron talks about the government’s record creating jobs. He is “sad” Iain Duncan Smith has resigned, but the work of being a compassionate government will continue, he says.
Cameron's opening statement - Snap verdict
We’ve probably got another hour or more of this statement to go, but already it feels as David Cameron has managed turn the dial down on the Tory budget turmoil by two or three notches. For today, at least, he has passed the point of maximum danger. Tory MPs are out in force defending the government and Jeremy Corbyn failed to lay a glove.
Like David Gauke earlier, Cameron failed to say anything at all about how the government will fill the gaping hole left in the budget calculations by the PIP U-turn. But he did stage a retreat of sorts. After Iain Duncan Smith resigned on Friday night Cameron responded by issuing a particularly snide letter that suggested the former work and pensions secretary was being hypocritical and irrational. A wise adviser would have encouraged him to think twice before publishing something so inflammatory, but Cameron has a temper which he appears to have misplaced on Friday night and out the letter went. Over the weekend anti-IDS briefing continued. But this afternoon Cameron has sued for peace, with a passage in his statement heaping praise on Duncan Smith. It remains to be seen how much this will repairs relations in the Tory party (a bit but not much, I guess), but it is a start.
And Cameron was helped by Corbyn. It is easy to assume that, with a government in crisis, all the leader of the opposition has to do to flatten the prime minister is turn up with a pithy soundbite. It is never that easy, not least because the prime minister has the final say. But Corbyn’s attack was broadbrush and ineffective, and he did not challenge Cameron about the specifics of the charges levelled by his former colleague. We’re now in the extraordinary position where the government has been condemned as too rightwing by Iain Duncan Smith. A better parliamentarian would have made some headway with that.
Updated
Cameron is responding to Corbyn.
He says he does not agree that Turkey is unsafe for Syrian refugees. That is insulting to Turkey, he says. They are hosting 2.6m refugees.
He says it may sound humane offering to take more Syrian refugees. But the government should not be encouraging more to come to Europe, he says. That would lead to more losing their lives crossing the Mediterranean.
He says refugees in France should seek asylum there.
He says he should have paid tribute to Paula Sherriff himself for her hard work.
On Osborne, he says Osborne will be in the Commons tomorrow to answer the debate.
And, on black holes, we should hear from the “time lords opposite’, he says. They left the biggest budget black hole ever, he says.
- Cameron says Labour cannot comment on budget “black holes” because they left the biggest black hole ever.
Jeremy Corbyn is responding to Cameron.
He says Cameron only gave him advance sight of half his statement (not the whole statement, as is customary.)
He expresses concern about the EU plan to force migrants to return to Turkey. He says Amnesty International has said Turkey is not a safe country for refugees.
He says Britain should take more than the 20,000 refugees from Syria already pledged. Britain should cooperate with the Europe-wide response, he says.
He pays tribute to Paua Sherriff, the Labour MP, for the way she has campaigned against the tampon tax.
Where is George Osborne, Corbyn asks.
Instead of covering up for Osborne, Cameron should get him to come to the Commons and explain why his budget has fallen apart. He says this is the first time he has seen a budget fall apart like this.
He says the government has not ruled out alternative disability cuts.
He says the budget is still unfair.
Osborne should explain how he can fill the black hole in his budget. If not, he should consider his position.
Cameron heaps praise on Duncan Smith and Osborne
Cameron turns to other matters at the summit.
He used it to deal with a long-standing dispute about VAT matters (ie, the tampon tax), he says.
Plans announced in the next few days will allow countries to extend the zero-rate to certain products, including sanitary products. On that basis the government will impose a zero-rate on sanitary products.
Cameron turns to Iain Duncan Smith and says he contributed “an enormous amount” to the work of this government and can be proud of what he did.
The government will continue to prioritise improving life chances, he says.
It will take more people out of tax. It will rebuild sink estates, improve life chances, and reform prisons, he says.
And next mont the national living wage will come into force, he says.
None of this would be possible without George Osborne, he says. Without sound public finances, you have to cut spending and put up taxes. You don’t get more life chances that way; you get fewer.
We must no burden our children and grandchildren with debts we do not have the courage to pay off, he says.
He ends by saying he leads a “modern, compassionate, One Nation Conservative government”.
- Cameron pays lavish tribute to Iain Duncan Smith and George Osborne.
- Cameron says he leads a “modern, compassionate, One Nation Conservative government”.
David Cameron's Commons statement
David Cameron is making his statement now. It is focused on the EU summit, which was about how to deal with the migration crisis.
He says the UK is not in the Schengen agreement, so migrants who enter other EU countries cannot come to this country. But it is still in Britain’s interests to help the EU deal with this crisis, he says.
For the first time the EU came up with a comprehensive plan.
It will be the best chance to make a difference, he says, because it will break the business model used by people smugglers.
He says Britain will pay for its contribution to the EU money going to Turkey from its aid budget.
And he says the plan to give Turks visa-free travel within the EU will not mean Turks coming to Britain.
Labour’s Stephen Doughty asks why Osborne is not here. And how will the £4.4bn be filled?
Gauke says Osborne has worked tirelessly to make life better for people. And he says Labour never says how they would save money.
This is from the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.
I'm told the PM will be at his "most magnanimous" in statement to MPs. No knifing from Boris today either. Bleeding over, at least for now.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) March 21, 2016
My colleague Heather Stewart thinks the Tory whips have done a good job.
Govt have done a good job planting supportive questions, allowing @DavidGauke to wax lyrical about Osborne's greatest hits.
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) March 21, 2016
And Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh thinks Gauke deserves credit too.
1 reason Cameron shd give Gauke a promotion: he's done a brilliant job at uniting Tory benches, neat seatwarmer for Dave's own healing task
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) March 21, 2016
This is from Sky’s Emily Ashton.
Cameron has just entered the chamber, nodding & smiling at Bercow. Sure he's privately fuming at his statement being delayed.
— Emily Ashton (@elashton) March 21, 2016
Labour’s Mary Creagh asks Gauke if he agrees with Iain Duncan Smith that cutting PIP, in the context of a budget that cut taxes for the rich, was indefensible.
Gauke does not answer directly. But he says the highest-earning 20% now pay half of all taxes. That would not have happened under Labour, he says.
Gauke tells a Labour MP that, if he is worried about black holes in the budget, he ought to speak to his own front bench about the black holes in Labour’s plans.
William Wragg, a Conservative, says his government’s willingness to back down over PIP is preferable to Gordon Brown’s refusal to retreat over abolishing the 10p rate of income tax.
Gauke says, although Labour complain about the capital gains tax cut, the rate is still higher than it was under Labour in 2010.
But if Gauke is refusing to answer the questions, at least he is being “robust” when it comes to sticking to the government line, my colleague Heather Stewart says.
Plenty of supportive qu's from Tory backbenchers for @DavidGauke, who's doing a robust job, with much use of the "long-term economic plan".
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) March 21, 2016
Labour’s Chuka Umunna says this government has borrowed more in five years than Labour did in 13 years. He says if the government can scrap the PIP cut, why can’t it also cut the bedroom tax?
Gauke says Umunna seems to be one of those Labour figures who thinks you can cut borrowing by borrowing more. He says getting rid of the spare room subsidy helps cut the deficit.
ITV’s Robert Peston isn’t impressed by David Gauke’s performance.
.@DavidGauke has been instructed not to depart from "it's all going swimmingly" script. No substantive answer to @johnmcdonnellMP questions
— Robert Peston (@Peston) March 21, 2016
Labour’s Ian Lucas says Osborne said this was a budget for the next generation. Which member of the next generation will succeed Osborne?
Gauke wonders if that is the best Lucas can do.
Labour’s Stephen Timms asks Gauke to respond to Iain Duncan Smith’s claim that George Osborne did not want to spend money on the disabled because they did not vote Conservative.
Gauke says spending on the disabled has actually gone up.
And Paddy Ashdown is gloating with this tweet, referring to Osborne’s joke about the Lib Dems in his budget speech.
Oh the irony! Osborne claims he abolished Lib Dems. But I bet he misses us now! Never in political history has such a biter been so bit!
— Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) March 21, 2016
This is from the BBC’s Ross Hawkins.
Not seen Labour backbenchers in such noisy good heart for ages.
— Ross Hawkins (@rosschawkins) March 21, 2016
Updated
Labour’s Rachel Reeves says this budget makes the 2012 “omnishambles’ one look like a model of good policy-making. Do the figures in the budget red book, including the £4.4n in the Personal Independence Payments, still stand.
Gauke says what still stands is the plan to get the budget in surplus.
Chris Philp, a Conservative, asks Gauke to confirm that spending on disability has gone up £2bn over the last five years, and that it will go up by £1bn in this parliament.
Gauke says disability spending went up by more than £2bn in the last parliament.
And this is from the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman.
What a parallel universe we are in now where planted question from Tory backbencher is praising govt on spending going up.
— Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) March 21, 2016
Updated
Philip Davies, a Conservative, says the Treasury would find it easier if it ended the ring-fencing of the international aid budget.
Gauke says he does not agree. That was a manifesto commitment, he says.
This is from Labour’s Mary Creagh.
Just a dozen or so Tories in the chamber to support Gauke and his statement on disability and plenty of gaps on the benches.
— Mary Creagh (@MaryCreaghMP) March 21, 2016
Chris Leslie, the Labour former shadow chancellor, asks how MPs can vote on the budget tomorrow if the scorecard in the budget red book (explaining how the Treasury will fund its plans) has been ripped up. On a scale of one to 10, how embarrassed is Gauke.
Gauke says he would be embarrassed if, like Leslie, he thought there was going to be a vote on the Personal Independence Payment tomorrow. There won’t be, he says.
Yvette Cooper, the Labour former work and pensions secretary, asks if the Treasury will produce a new scorecard explaining where the missing £4.4bn will come from? Will it come from the DWP? And she says George Osborne is not fit to be chancellor if he cannot come to the Commons to defend his budget.
Gauke says the government will set out its plans in the autumn statement.
Gauke is responding to McDonnell.
He says there is no question of the government taking disability benefits down to the level they were in 2010.
Spending on disability benefits is £3bn higher now than it was then in real terms, he says.
He says the top 1% are paying a greater proportion of the total income tax take than in any year under Labour.
McDonnell says the budget process is “in absolute chaos”
McDonnell says the budget process is “in absolute chaos”.
He says it is unprecedented for the government to have dropped a major budget measure, and to have accepted two opposition amendments before the end of the third day of the budget debate.
He says the cuts to capital gains tax and tax cuts for the top 5% are indefensible in a budget cutting benefits for the disabled.
He challenges Gauke to rule out any further disability cuts for the rest of this parliament.
Which other groups might be targeted?
He says the Personal Independence Payment change leaves a £4.4bn black hole in the budget, besides the other unspecified departmental cuts, and the loss of revenue caused by the abolition of the “tampon tax.
He says the government should rip up the budget and start again.
Updated
David Gauke says there will be statements from David Cameron and Stephen Crabb later. And George Osborne will respond to the budget debate tomorrow. So MPs have three chances to discuss this before they vote, he says.
But he says he is grateful for the chance to talk about how the government is taking people out of income tax and improving the economy.
McDonnell asks if the chancellor will make a statement on changes to the budget.
“Where is he?” some MPs shout.
John McDonnell's urgent question to Treasury on budget U-turn
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is about to ask his urgent question about the budget U-turn.
David Gauke, the Treasury minister, will reply.
Cable says Tories never expected to have to impose £12bn welfare cuts because they expected a second coalition
Vince Cable, the former Lib Dem business secretary, was interviewed on the World at One about the budget. He was asked if he thought that George Osborne committed the government to cutting £12bn from welfare before the election because he had the prospect of a coalition “at the back of his mind” and thought that he would be able to abandon these cuts as a coalition compromise. Cable replied:
I don’t think it was at the back of his mind. It was at the front of his mind. I think both David Cameron and he assumed that there would be another hung parliament, that the Liberal Democrats would again be in government, that we would be a moderating influence and they would be able to step back from commitments like that that they did not really believe they could deliver.
Paula Sheriff, the Labour MP who tabled the amendment to the budget resolution calling for the “tampon tax” to be abolished, has welcomed the news from Number 10 that the government will not oppose it. She said:
After nearly two years of campaigning, the announcement that the tampon tax will finally be scrapped is a huge victory for common sense, and all the women who have fought on this issue for so long.
We now need final clarity on how and when the tax will be dropped. I will be preparing amendments to the finance bill following the budget and I hope this will pass through the Commons before the EU referendum in June. The chancellor also needs to guarantee secure, long-term funding for the vital women’s charities and services that were receiving the money raised by VAT on sanitary products.
The test now will be for producers and retailers to pass the savings on to consumers, and to work with the government to make sure the charities which had a funding boost from the tampon tax don’t lose out. I am writing to manufacturers and retailers today to ask them to meet with me very soon to reach an agreement on that.
Stephen Crabb, the new work and pensions secretary, will be in the Commons later. As Patrick Butler and Anushka Asthana report, he has come under fire over his support for another disability cut that will leave sick and disabled claimants £30 a week worse off.
This, from the Conservative MP Michael Fabricant, contains an important truth.
George #Osborne has allies in the House of Commons.
— Michael Fabricant (@Mike_Fabricant) March 21, 2016
David #Cameron has friends.
And it's friends you need when there's trouble.
McDonnell accuses Osborne of 'insulting' parliament by not responding to urgent question
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has put out a statement about George Osborne’s decision not to respond to his Commons urgent question. He said:
It’s unacceptable to the country and insulting to parliament that the chancellor is not turning up to respond to my urgent question on the chaos of his making around a Budget he delivered only last week which had collapsed by Friday night.
This has meant hundreds of thousands of disabled people will have been worried needlessly by George Osborne.
And today yet another thread of George Osborne’s budget has unravelled. The chancellor and David Cameron knew that if they hadn’t climbed-down on the Tampon Tax and Solar Jobs Tax they were heading for defeat and would have lost the first votes on a budget debate since 1994.
George Osborne needs to now set out how he will fill the back hole in his budget. His failure to do so means his fantasy £10bn surplus target, like his credibility, is further shot to pieces.
Updated
This is from the BBC’s James Landale.
Tory MPs tell me David Cameron has unexpectedly decided to address the backbench 1922 committee on Wednesday
— James Landale (@BBCJLandale) March 21, 2016
Lunchtime summary
- David Cameron is preparing for a Commons statement which he will try to use to repair some of the damage caused to his government by Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation and by the budget U-turn over disability cuts. His statement will be mostly focused on last week’s EU summit, but he will face questions from MPs for more than an hour and Number 10 has indicated that he will use it to insist that he remains committed to One Nation Conservatism. Duncan Smith suggested in his resignation statement and his interview with Andrew Marr yesterday that the government was now only acting in the interests of its own supporters, particularly the wealthy and pensioners.
- George Osborne has ducked a challenge to come to the Commons to defend his budget. Labour’s John McDonnell has tabled an urgent question, but Osborne has chosen not to respond to it, sending his Treasury colleague David Gauke to the despatch box to deal with the questions instead. The UQ will start at 3.30pm, and Cameron’s statement will start soon after 4pm, and I will be covering both in detail.
- The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that poorer working-age households, especially those with children, will be “hit hard” by the government’s tax and benefits changes while pensioners will be protected, a respected economic think-tank has found. In an analysis of the tax and benefit changes coming into effect in this parliament it says:
Again, pensioners are protected while poorer working age households are hit hard, especially those with children. This is the result of the continued protection of pensioner benefits (including maintaining the ‘triple lock’ on the basic state pension) while making further deep cuts to working-age benefit spending.
Again, households in the upper half of the income distribution (but below the very top) are likely to see little direct impact of tax and benefit changes on their incomes on average, as some benefits cuts and small tax rises are offset by further increases in the income tax personal allowance, and the raising of the higher rate threshold.
So the income distribution has narrowed, but tax and benefit changes planned for this parliament will likely help take it back to something like pre-recession levels.
- Tory MPs have continued to attack the budget, with David Davis saying it was unfair and contrary to Cameron’s One Nation rhetoric. (See 10.59am.) Sarah Wollaston said the government should abandon its policy of protecting benefits for richer pensioners in the interests of intergenerational fairness. (See 10.17am.)
- Number 10 has indicated that the government will not explain where it will find the money to replace the money lost by they £4bn Personal Independence Payment U-turn until the autumn statement. (See 12.48pm.) Stephen Crabb, the new work and pensions secretary, will say more on this when he makes his own Commons statement, some time after 5.30pm.
- Downing Street has said the government will not oppose two Labour amendments, abolishing the tampon tax and blocking a rise in VAT on solar panels, when MPs vote on the budget tomorrow. The European Commission will publish plans this week to give EU states more flexibility over varying VAT, and Number 10 says these new EU rules will enable the government to abolish the tampon tax and cancel the planned VAT rise for solar panels.
- A Conservative MP has revealed that she and colleagues warned Osborne the day before the budget about the changes to PIP. Karen Lumley MP released the letter, which said the budget plans risked looking like a “sustained attack on disabled benefits by the government” and would cause long-term damage to its reputation. The letter demonstrates that Osborne was aware of i backbenchers’ concerns about the impending cuts but pressed ahead anyway. It said:
We are writing to you as a small group of colleagues to raise concern about the proposed changes in personal independence payment criteria. Many colleagues will have been surprised by the response to the recent ESA [employment and support allowance] WRAG [work-related activity group] benefit, which has led resulted in large amounts of personal abuse towards colleagues.
Coming so soon after the ESA changes, we are concerned that further changes to PIP will be seen as a sustained attack on disabled benefits by the government. This is very concerning for the impact it will have on disabled people, but it also feeds into a wider narrative that the Conservatives are trying to balance the books on the backs of the most vulnerable.
- Chuka Umunna, the former shadow business secretary, has said Britain is on a “slippery slope” towards electing a prime minister in the mould of Donald Trump. In a speech in London to launch a new All Party Group on Social Integration, he said:
Some say it wouldn’t fly in modern Britain. That people here could never stomach a Prime Minister in the mould of Donald Trump.
A major party leader who would slander and stigmatise a whole faith group and advocate building a wall to keep immigrants out of our country. Who would say anything to get elected and bully and shout down anyone who spoke up against them. But we are already on that slippery slope.
If we continue down this path, we could face nothing less than the Trumpification of British democracy.
In the run up to the general election, as I travelled around the country, I was confronted time and time again with the reality that here - just like in the States - people are losing faith in the idea that politics can make a difference to their lives.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is appealing to George Osborne to “do the honourable thing” and reply to Labour’s urgent question about the budget in person.
Looks like Gauke standing in for my UQ. I appeal again to @George_Osborne to do the honourable thing & personally come to defend his budget.
— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) March 21, 2016
IFS says post-2015 policies will increase income inequality
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has published a briefing today looking at whether government policies really are spreading the burden between income groups fairly.
It says that income inequality is lower now than it was before the recession, but that over the next five much of this will be undone because the rich will benefit more from government policy than the poor.
This chart illustrates this.
Look at the green line first. It shows that between 2007 and 2015 the poorest households (those on the far left) saw their income rise by almost 10%, while the richest households (those on the far right) saw their income fall by around 4%.
But the pale dotted line shows what is expected to happen between 2015 and 2020. This time the line is slanted the other way, with the richest (those on the right) doing best.
As the IFS says, overall from 2007 to 2020 the line is reasonably flat, suggesting that over the decade the rich and the poor will have been treated broadly equally.
This is from the IFS commentary. (I’ve inserted the bold type.)
Chart 1 illustrates the pattern of overall changes in living standards. The solid line shows that there has been a considerable equalisation of the income distribution in the years since the recession, with incomes rising for those towards the bottom of the distribution and falling for those towards the top. This reflects a combination of rising employment, falling earnings and some increases in benefit income (between 2007–08 and 2009–10). On some measures, inequality is now at a 25 year low.
The lighter dotted line shows our projections of what will happen to incomes over the next five years. This line slopes in the other direction. The lack of real income growth at the bottom reflects further benefit cuts, while the better performance further up is dependent on real earnings rising as expected by the OBR. Finally the darker dotted line shows our projections for the period as a whole (which also of course depends on earnings rising as projected from now). It suggests that we should expect much of the recent fall in inequality to be undone over the next five years, resulting in a similar change in incomes for rich and poor over the whole period since the recession. Some evidence, perhaps, that we are all in it together.
Another chart just looks at the impact of tax and benefit decisions taken since the general election. These clearly benefit wealthy households more than poor households. Thoes doing worst are the working-age households with children (the grey line) in the second poorest decile.
The Treasury say George Osborne will be winding up the budget debate tomorrow night, ie speaking just before MPs vote. Apparently it will be the first time the chancellor has done this since the 1990s, and it helps to explain why he will not be responding to Labour’s urgent question today.
Osborne ducks Labour UQ on the budget, with Gauke replying instead
George Osborne has ducked Labour’s UQ on the budget; David Gauke, the Treasury minister, will be responding instead, the BBC reports.
Lucky David Gauke will respond for govt this afternoon
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) March 21, 2016
Cameron's Commons statement going ahead, No 10 says
Number 10 is saying Cameron’s statement is going ahead. It seems Chris Bryant may have been misled.
The PM oral statement on EU is going ahead, according to Downing street, straight after urgent question
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) March 21, 2016
Updated
The Spectator’s Isabel Hardman says we may get David Gauke, the Treasury minister, replying to the UQ.
John McDonnell granted urgent question to Osborne about Budget. Presume David Gauke already writing out the answer he'll be sent to give.
— Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) March 21, 2016
The Treasury have not said who will respond to Jeremy Corbyn’s UQ, but my colleague Anushka Asthana says it may well not be George Osborne himself.
George Osborne is going to wind up the Budget debate tomorrow... Not sure he'll come to parly for UQ today, but maybe there for PM statement
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) March 21, 2016
Cameron 'cancels Commons statement', Labour says
Chris Bryant, the shadow leader of the Commons, says he has been told that Cameron has pulled his Commons statement.
Committee clerk just notified me PM no longer making statement on EU summit. Surely this can't be true?
— Chris Bryant MP (@RhonddaBryant) March 21, 2016
N0 10 lobby briefing - Summary
Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.
- Downing Street indicated that the government will not explain where it will find the money to replace the money lost by they £4bn Personal Independence Payment U-turn until the autumn statement. The prime minister’s spokeswoman said:
There will be an opporunity for further forecasts at the autumn statement and decisions will be made in the light of that.
- She confirmed that the government would not go ahead with the changes to the Personal Independent Payment “in their current form”. But she would not comment on whether the cuts could be brought back in a different form, or whether the savings would be made elsewhere. The spokeswoman said she was “not going to get into speculation”.
- She suggested that Cameron deserved credit for being willing to drop the plan to cut PIP. She said:
There have been a lot of concerns raised about that policy. The prime minister is a man who is prepared to listen to concerns.
- She said the government was still committed to the welfare cap (a rule that is supposed to limit overall government spending on benefits). She said this was designed to increase transparency in relation to the welfare budget and that “we believe it is right to have this measure in place”. She went on:
The public want us to control the welfare budget.
- She said the government will not oppose a Labour amendment to block a rise in VAT on solar panels when MPs vote on the budget tomorrow night.
- She said the government will also not oppose the amendment from Labour MP Paula Sheriff opposing the “tampon tax” when MPs vote on the budget.
- The spokeswoman said Cameron did not accept the suggestion from Iain Duncan Smith that the government was ignoring the interests of the poor because they did not vote Conservative. She also said that Cameron did not accept the claim from Duncan Smith, supported by the Tory MP Sarah Wollaston on the Today programme, that the government’s policies were biased in favour of pensioners. She said the government was acting in the interests of “a whole range of people” and cited apprenticeships and the national living wage as examples of what it was doing for working-age people.
- Downing Street is still committed to the “triple lock” that protects pensions, the spokeswoman said. Some people have cited this as an example of a policy that should be abandoned so as to release more money to protect the disabled.
- She said Cameron was leading “a One Nation government that is focused on improving opportunities for all”.
- She said that the pensions minister Ros Altmann was speaking “in a personal capacity” at the weekend when she criticised Duncan Smith’s treatment of her at the Department for Work and Pensions. No 10 did not know in advance that Altmann was going to speak out, the spokeswoman said. She implied that Number 10 was not happy about Altmann’s intervention, but she said the prime minister still had confidence in her.
- The spokeswoman brushed aside claims from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Resolution Foundation that the budget was regressive by saying that top earners are paying a higher proportion of income tax. The share of total income tax paid by the top 1% is 28%, which is higher than ever, she said.
- The spokeswoman said Cameron still had confidence in Osborne. Asked if Cameron has complete confidence in the chancellor, she replied: “Absolutely”. But, when asked if he thought Osborne was “playing a blinder”, she was more equivocal.
The prime minister recognises that as a government, both in the last parliament and in this parliament, we face challenging global economic circumstances.
It will be up to the Treasury to decide whether George Osborne responds to Corbyn’s UQ, or whether another minister takes his place. I’ll post as soon as I find out who they are putting up.
McDonnell granted UQ to summon Osborne to Commons to explain PIP U-turn
John McDonnell has been granted an urgent question designed to drag George Osborne to the Commons to comment on the Personal Independence Payment U-turn.
UQ granted at 3.30 to @johnmcdonnellMP to ask @George_Osborne to make a statement on changes to the Budget.
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) March 21, 2016
Updated
Government to accept Labour budget amendment opposing VAT increase on solar panels
I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. I will post a full summary soon, but here are the main points.
- Downing Street indicated that the government will not explain where it will find the money to replace the money lost by they £4bn Personal Independence Payment U-turn until the autumn statement.
- The government will not oppose a Labour amendment to block a rise in VAT on solar panels when MPs vote on the budget tomorrow night, the prime minister’s spokeswoman said.
- The government will also not oppose the amendment from Labour MP Paula Sheriff opposing the “tampon tax” when MPs vote on the budget.
Updated
David Davis says government not living up to its One Nation rhetoric
Here are the key points from David Davis’s interview with the Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC.
- Davis said that Iain Duncan Smith was right to describe the budget as unfair. He said that Duncan Smith was a man of integrity who knew what he was talking about. Asked if that meant he agreed with Duncan Smith about the budget being unfair, he replied: “That’s what it looks like.”
- Davis said the government was not living up to its One Nation rhetoric.
What [voters]] want to see is that parties live by their own words. We have used the phrase ‘We’re all in this together’ many times. And it is quite important that we live by that. So I am very sympathetic to Iain Duncan Smith’s position because this is what he stands for.
- He said that the government should not try to compensate for the money lost by not cutting Personal Independence Payment by other cuts in the welfare budget. The money should come from other government departments, he suggested.
I think it would be, to be honest. I think they have to go back and think again.
In the comments BTL benmandel asked whether the PIP cut raises £1.3bn or £4.4bn. It would save £1.3bn a year by 2019-20 but journalists have arrived at the £4.4bn figure by doing cumulative savings over this parliament.
- He said Osborne had no chance of replacing David Cameron as party leader in the near future. Asked if Osborne’s chances of becoming prime minister were finished, he replied:
Not ever. If the leadership election were to be in the next six months, I think he would be sunk without trace.
He also said it might make sense to move Osborne to another post.
Very, very few people go straight from being chancellor to being prime minister, and when they do, it’s not always a success. Gordon Brown was the last one.
He said that James Callaghan did other jobs after leaving the Treasury (home secretary and foreign secretary) and that he was “given the circumstances, a very successful prime minister”.
I’m off to the lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.
This is from Channel 4 News’s Tim Bouverie.
Senior Tory MP: IDS was always viewed as a "bear of very little brain" by Cameron and Osborne. Still, PIP was a "massive cock up"
— Tim Bouverie (@TimPBouverie) March 21, 2016
These are from the BBC’s Norman Smith.
"Power is ebbing away from Osborne and Cameron" former minister tells me
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) March 21, 2016
"George Osborne was never viable leadership material. Now he's holed beneath the water line" says former Tory minister
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) March 21, 2016
Sky’s Faisal Islam has an interesting take on the way George Osborne’s budget has backfired.
Quite remarkable how the Chancellor has been systematically caught in the series of self-imposed traps set ostensibly for Ed Balls...
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) March 21, 2016
... 1. Surplus target led to the eyebrow-raising fiscal rollercoaster pre-election. spread out by more even cuts in July. Now reintroduced..
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) March 21, 2016
2. Welfare Cap - was reset in July downwards, limiting Labour room for manoeuvre - but forcing Chancellor to breach with tax credit uturn
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) March 21, 2016
3. Welfare Cap meant savings could only be found from tax credits, housing benefit or disability benefits even as pensions hiked by 2.9%
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) March 21, 2016
4. With tax credits ruled out post-u-turn, the only Welfare Cap compliant cuts were to disability benefits ...thats what IDS confirmed to me
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) March 21, 2016
5. So now there has been a reversal on disability benefit cuts too, that only leaves housing benefit "in scope" - or the Welfare Cap is dead
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) March 21, 2016
David Davis says budget was unfair
David Davis, the Conservative backbencher, has just told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that he agrees with Iain Duncan Smith about the budget being unfair.
I’ll post more from his interview shortly.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has sent out a briefing saying that it thinks Iain Duncan Smith has “greatly—perhaps terminally—reduced [George] Osborne’s chance of becoming Conservative leader when [David] Cameron steps down” and that this will help Theresa May.
One potential beneficiary will be the home secretary, Theresa May; we believe she is now strongest placed to succeed Mr Cameron.
Tory MP suggests Cameron should abandon pledge to protect benefits for wealthy pensioners
Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative backbencher, used her interview with the Today programme this morning to suggest that David Cameron should abandon the party’s promise not to cut benefits for wealthy pensioners (like the winter fuel payment). In his resignation letter Duncan Smith suggested this promise was a mistake. Wollaston told Today:
The point that Iain Duncan Smith was making was that there are some groups at the moment that can’t be touched. If we are going to have inter-generational fairness, that might mean looking at where that might fall ... I don’t think there will be as much resistance to that as people might imagine, because inter-generational fairness matters to older people as well, and to wealthier older pensioners.
She also said that, if Cameron wanted people to believe he was committed to social justice, he had to show that through his policies.
Today, when David Cameron stands up, he has to reaffirm the message that led many people like myself to join the Conservative party in the first place when he became leader.
Are we about social justice? Are we about spreading the burden fairly? We need to hear that very clear message today.
People judge us on our actions, not just on our words, and if, in the same Budget, we are trying to link a reduction in personal independence payments at the same time we are cutting taxes for the wealthiest, I’m afraid that isn’t consistent. We need that message to be consistent.
Howard defends Osborne and urges Tories to 'calm down'
Michael Howard (now Lord Howard), who was Conservative leader after Iain Duncan Smith and before David Cameron, was on the Today programme in the 8.10 slot this morning. Howard was a big patron of George Osborne (at one point he appeared to favour him as his successor to Cameron) and he used the interview to defend Osborne strongly. He also said the party should “calm down”.
I would be telling my colleagues if I was still in the House of Commons to calm down, to remember that it’s less than a year since the Conservative party won a general election under David Cameron’s leadership, that one of the main elements in that election victory - probably the main element - was our economic recovery during the five years leading up to that election, for which George Osborne as chancellor of the exchequer deserves an enormous amount of credit ...
We are going to be this year the fastest-growing economy of all the advanced economies in the Western world. That is not an accident. That is something that owes a great deal to the stewardship of the chancellor of the exchequer, and that’s the kind of thing that’s going to determine George Osborne’s record.
Howard also said that if one element of the budget had to be changed (the proposed Personal Independence Payment cut, which has now been abandoned), that was not “the end of the world”.
We’re having a budget in which one element is being thought about again. I don’t think that’s the end of the world. I don’t think it’s something about which people should necessarily be greatly concerned. I think it shows that we have a government which is prepared to listen and think again, and I think that’s to its credit.
Howard also said he had “high regard” for Iain Duncan Smith and that Duncan Smith “deserves great credit for the welfare reform”. Greg Clark, the communities minister, was on the programme about half an hour saying much the same thing. (Clark said Duncan Smith and Cameron and Osborne “have worked very successfully together over the years, for example, to get more people into work than ever before, to have fewer children in workless households”.) The Sunday Times’ s Tim Shipman thinks this is a belated attempt by Number 10 to repair the damage caused by Cameron’s decision to respond to Duncan Smith’s resignation on Friday night with a snide letter implying that Duncan Smith was being irrational.
Both Michael Howard and Greg Clark sent out to be nice to IDS. No 10 always do this after they've gone ballistic and first made things worse
— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) March 21, 2016
Pound falls following Iain Duncan Smith's resignation
The pound has fallen this morning, my colleague Graeme Wearden reports on the business live blog.
Sterling has been falling this morning, after work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith sensationally resigned late on Friday.
The pound fell by almost one cent against the US dollar, hitting a low of $1.4377. It is also down 0.4% against the euro, at €1.2803.
Although the moves aren’t huge, the City is taking note of Duncan Smith’s shock decision to quit, and his attack on the ‘deeply unfair’ budget announced last week.
It has exposed serious splits at the heart of the government, with some MPs supporting his criticism.
IDS has denied that his resignation is motivated by June’s referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. But he is one of the most senior Brexit supporters, so his move to the back benches could intensity the battle over the EU.
There is more on this on the business live blog.
No 10 claims Cameron does not blame Osborne
The Times has got the most striking headline: “Cameron: I blame Osborne.” (See 9.05am.)
The story (paywall) is based on what David Cameron reportedly told a cabinet colleague. Here’s an excerpt.
In a rare sign of division between the two men, the prime minister said that his chancellor was responsible for the dispute that ended in the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith as work and pensions secretary.
Mr Cameron privately claimed that Mr Osborne would pay with his reputation for the failure to handle the issue. “Cameron said in no uncertain terms that Osborne had messed up, it was all his fault and would have hell to pay in the papers,” a cabinet source said.
A senior member of staff at No 10 disputed the claim, however, insisting that it did not represent Mr Cameron’s view. “The prime minister does not believe the chancellor was responsible for what happened,” the source said. “They are working as closely as they ever have done.”
This morning a Number 10 spokesman said that the Times story was “not true” and “total nonsense”.
It may well be the case, as the Number 10 rebuttal suggests, that Cameron has no desire at all to undermine Osborne. However it would be odd if Cameron did not think that Osborne has “messed up” the budget, because it is self-evident that he has. And it was obvious to everyone at the weekend that Osborne was going to have “hell to pay in the papers”. So the key Times quote is 100% plausible.
Tory turmoil - What the papers are saying
I have already posted a picture of the Guardian’s splash. Here are the other newspapers that have splashed on the Tory story.
The headlines speak for themselves.
TIMES: Cameron: I blame Osborne #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/MMfu0YMpWB
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
FT POLITICAL LEAD: Cameron fights to calm civil war by @_Kate_Allen #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/0kU0Fac09W
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
TELEGRAPH: PM fights back to save his party #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/nRzoDqtdDz
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
INDEPENDENT: IDS twists the knife #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/Qrnj3zS2up
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
DAILY MAIL: Civil war engulfs Tories #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/K8Qh4XBj2r
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
MIRROR: Damned #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/jcEYnWwPE7
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
CITY AM: Moody Blues #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/pnpZYLXLIW
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
MORNING STAR: Just tear it up and try again #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/6jmQvpbyf6
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
Updated
There will be at least two statements in the Commons today.
David Cameron will make a statement at 3.30pm. The prime minister always delivers a statement to MPs after he has attended an EU summit, to report to them on what has happened, and Number 10 has indicated that he will use this to respond to Iain Duncan Smith by affirming his support for “compassionate Conservatism”. When a minister is making a statement on one subject (ie, an EU summit), the Speaker does not normally allow questions on another (ie, Iain Duncan Smith, or the budget), but John Bercow may allow some flexibility this afternoon in the light of the strong public interest in what Cameron has to say about the IDS row.
Then we will get a statement from Stephen Crabb, the new work and pensions secretary, on the Personal Independence Payment.
That means the budget debate will not start until at least 6pm. Greg Clark, the communities secretary, will open for the government.
Corbyn calls on Osborne to follow IDS and resign
The Conservative party is in turmoil and Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation has inflamed two conflicts that have been simmering in the party for years: the Leave/Remain feud over the EU; and the dispute between One Nation Conservatism and Thatcherite Toryism. It is often assumed that the Thatcherites are always in the Leave camp but, just to make things complicated, Duncan Smith, a prominent anti-EU figure, attacked David Cameron and George Osborne in his resignation letter for betraying the One Nation tradition.
Today we will get the Cameron fightback because he is giving a statement in the Commons.
Here is the Guardian’s overnight story.
Here is our splash.
GUARDIAN: Tories plunge into open warfare #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/mRN5w0V6Jz
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 20, 2016
And here are the latest overnight developments.
- No 10 says Cameron will fight back in the Commons this afternoon by expressing his commitment to “a modern, compassionate Conservatism”.
- Stephen Crabb, the new work and pensions secretary, is expected to tell MPs that the proposed cuts to Personal Independent Payments will not go ahead.
- Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has restated his call for Osborne to resign. He told BBC1’s Breakfast:
The budget doesn’t add up. The chancellor of the exchequer should come back to Parliament and explain that.
Far from just Iain Duncan Smith resigning, if a chancellor puts forward a Budget - as he did - knowing full well that he is making this huge hit on the disabled, then really it should perhaps be him who should be considering his position.
His budget simply doesn’t add up and it unravelled within hours of him presenting it. This isn’t the first time a George Osborne Budget has unravelled.
It seems to me we need to look at the very heart of this government, at its incompetence, at the way it puts forward proposals that simply don’t add up and expects the most needy in our society to take the hit for them.
- The Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston has used an interview with Today to suggest the Tories should abandon their promise not to cut benefits for wealthy pensioners.
- Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, has used an interview with Today to defend Osborne.
Howard says Osborne should be judged on his 'outstanding' record, 'not the end of the world' to rethink one element of the Budget
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) March 21, 2016
I will be focusing mostly on this story today. Here are the key moments to watch out for.
11am: Number 10 lobby briefing
3.30pm: David Cameron makes a statement to the Commons.
Around 5pm: MPs resume their debate on the budget.
I will also be covering other breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.
If you think there are any voices that I’m leaving out, particularly political figures or organisations giving alternative views of the stories I’m covering, do please flag them up below the line (include “Andrew” in the post). I can’t promise to include everything, but I do try to be open to as wide a range of perspectives as possible.
Updated
