Party Lines: November 25th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Speaking to BBC News this evening, Ed Miliband said that Labour hadn’t done enough on welfare reform, and that we should act on the minority who can work but don’t:

“There is a minority in many communities who can work and aren’t doing so and we need to act on that.”

“It is a minority in my view but it hacks people off and I understand why it hacks people off because they say, look, I’m working all the hours God sends, I’m working 50/60 hours a week – and I’m struggling to make ends meet and I feel the person next door isn’t doing their bit.”

“I don’t think we did enough on welfare reform.”

Iain Duncan Smith was corrected by his opposite number Douglas Alexander for the second time this week, this time over housing benefit. In a statement this afternoon Alexander said:

“Yesterday, the Prime Minister got it wrong on Disability Living Allowance and today Iain Duncan Smith has had to admit that some of the government’s claims on Housing Benefit don’t stand up to scrutiny.”

“Last week, in response to my letter questioning his grasp of the facts, Iain Duncan Smith conceded within hours that he had got it wrong. In response to a further letter from me this week, he has now had to take the unusual step of having to issue a Written Ministerial Statement to make further corrections to his and other ministers’ statements.”

“This government should not be trying to make sweeping changes to the benefit system based on half understood figures and inaccurate claims.”

Later this afternoon, Alexander responded to comments by new Tory peer Howard Flight, who suggested that welfare cuts would encourage the poor to breed:

“These shameful but revealing comments cast serious doubt over David Cameron’s judgement in personally appointing Howard Flight to the House of Lords only a few days ago.”

Speaking to Radio 4 this evening, John Mann MP said that Flight was saying “what many Tories believe” and that his behaviour is “totally barking mad”, before adding:

“It’s a prejudice based on a myth that people make such decisions.”

“The idea that middle class people losing child benefit are going to decide not to have children is an absolute total nonsense.”