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The Social Development Minister Alex Attwood is claiming a victory in his battle to encourage the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to show more flexibility in its plans for welfare reform. During recent discussions with Welfare ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Freud, Mr Attwood argued against imposing a 10% housing benefit cut for anyone unemployed for more than a year. The Guardian puts the decision to drop this proposal down to a last minute intervention from Nick Clegg. But the SDLP politician says he got in first, pressing the case with the Liberal Democrat Lord Freud.
Despite that change there's no doubt the changes outlined today will be significant for plenty of people in Northern Ireland. The DSD reckons there are 580,000 people here who claim one benefit or another - around 1 in 3 of the population. The Westminster coalition government says some people will be better off once a new universal benefit replaces the various allowances currently on offer. But in his speech David Cameron made no bones about his desire to save money - he's planning to cut the welfare bill by £5.5 billion across the UK over the next four years - and that has to have ramifications in Northern Ireland.
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how can you cut needs? The need will be a chicken come home to roost in some other area of the economy anyone who is on any benefit has already been hugely screened - there are already people trapped in their own homes with nothing to do here as the cost of getting anywhere is so great and we have a bus service that is no service at all for people who live outside Belfast. I cant get anywhere and back in a day.
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