Chancellor George Osborne last night piled on more misery for those in the public sector by revealing that a further £4 billion is to be cut form the annual welfare budget.
Just hours after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had attempted to ease fears about the £11 billion cuts already known about, the Chancellor hit the public sector with the massive blow. Mr Clegg had earlier promised that cuts would be tackled in the right manner by staggering the 25% departmental cuts over the course of 4 years.
Quoted in the Metro, Mr Osborne said: “The welfare bill has got completely out of control.
“There are 5 million people living on permanent out-of-work benefits … we can’t afford it anymore.”
The Chancellor refused to specify where the cuts would come but assured older Brits that the government will “protect key benefits for elderly people”.
