BURSTMore than 120 Labour MPs were preparing to vote against the government’s welfare cuts in the Commons on Tuesday
In her Today interview Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said she thought taxes would have to go up to help fund the welfare bill U-turn. She explained:
They’ll have to find this £3bn. (See 9.12am.)
We also had the announcement on winter fuel [the winter fuel payments U-turn] which costs over another £1bn. So altogether they’re looking for over £4bn.
Yes, unless the government were to get better news on the economy the next time that the Office for Budget Responsibility does a forecast, which would be in the autumn.
But when we look at everything that’s happened in the world since they last did that on March, our estimate is that she’ll actually get bad news from the OBR as well.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said [it would cost] £1.5bn yesterday on the Pip changes. I think it’s more like £3bn: you have the changes to Pip which cost £1.5bn to £2bn when you also take into account consequentials for things like carer’s allowance, but they’ve also said the freeze that they were going to introduce on universal credit health-related support will be undone and that will now rise in real terms and we estimate that will cost another £1bn.
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