David Cameron suspends disability benefit reform, after IDS resignation

Well, that was quick. In his letter responding to Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation, the Prime Minister has this to say:-

“We collectively agreed – you, No10 and the Treasury – proposals which you and your Department then announced a week ago. Today, we agreed not to proceed with the policies in their current form and instead to work together to get these policies right over the coming months.”

It was the disability benefit cuts that triggered the IDS resignation (or, rather, their being used in the Budget to help finance cuts to the higher rate of tax). The £1.3 billion cut was stated as a fact in the Budget, and the money banked. Then it was downgraded to a “suggestion” by Nicky Morgan on Question Time last night. From this letter, it would seem that the Prime Minister has now abandoned the idea – as IDS told him he should have done a few weeks ago. (He had hoped to have a consultation that would last until the summer, and would impress upon the Prime Minister the folly of all this).