Duncan Smith Returns

Iain Duncan Smith is to return to the DWP as the Work and Pensions Secretary.  

George Osborne is considering whether to hold an emergency budget within the next month. This would lead to an autumn spending review in which he will outline the details of the cuts as part of a planned £30bn fiscal consolidation.

The chancellor, who has been given the additional title of first secretary of state by the prime minister, plans to eliminate the budget deficit by 2018-19 by imposing £12bn in welfare cuts, reducing day-to-day government spending by £13bn and raising £5bn from tax-avoidance measures.

The confirmation of Duncan Smith’s post comes before a full cabinet reshuffle which will be finalised on Monday. The first Conservative-only cabinet for 18 years will meet on Tuesday.

The prime minister is expected to say that the chancellor aims to run a budget surplus by the end of the parliament. This means that Osborne and Duncan Smith will have to draw up detailed proposals for the planned cuts.

The work and pensions secretary said the cuts, which are the equivalent of 10% of non-pensioner welfare spending, are possible. However, he says they cannot be achieved through cheese-paring and will instead have to involve changes in behaviour. Duncan Smith has proposed limiting child benefit to the first two children, though the chancellor is wary of this idea on the grounds that it suggests the state wants to discourage large families.

Cameron said during the election campaign that child benefit would eventually be subsumed into universal credit – Duncan Smith’s flagship reform which integrates six benefits. Yet he also said there would be no cuts to child benefit. 

With information from a Guardian Newspaper article