‘Hefty welfare cuts in UK July budget plan’

Welfare spending to be cut by £12b, finance minister says

British Finance Minister George Osborne has said he will press ahead with hefty cuts to welfare in a budget statement next month, a day after tens of thousands of people marched against austerity in central London.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Osborne and Welfare Minister Iain Duncan Smith said the newly re-elected Conservative government would go ahead with plans to cut welfare spending by £12 billion (Dh70 billion, $19 billion), out of an annual budget of £220 billion, including oldage pensions.

British media had previously reported that Osborne was under pressure from colleagues to rein in the cuts, which are likely to fall most heavily on low-paid workers.

Separate media reports yesterday also pointed to other demands on Osborne for spending on defence and overseas aid ahead of his post-election budget statement on July 8.

“We will set out in detail all the steps we will take to bring about savings totalling £12 billion a year in next month’s budget and at the spending review in the autumn,” Osborne and Duncan Smith wrote.

“For a start, we will reduce the benefit cap, and have made clear that we believe we need to make significant savings from other working-age benefits,” they added.

Tax credit restrictions

The Sunday Times said cuts under consideration included banning people aged under 25 from claiming housing benefit and restricting tax credits to a couple’s first two children.

On Saturday tens of thousands of protesters marched from the Bank of England in London’s financial district to parliament to protest against further cuts, saying they were unnecessary and would worsen inequality.

Further demands on spending appeared in other British media.