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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Benefit reforms: Iain Duncan Smith 'has lived on breadline' | Benefit reforms: Iain Duncan Smith 'has lived on breadline' |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has insisted he knows what it is like to "live on the breadline". | Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has insisted he knows what it is like to "live on the breadline". |
| The comment comes after 330,000 people signed a petition urging Mr Duncan Smith to try living on £53 a week. | |
| He dismissed this as a "complete stunt", telling the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian he had been unemployed twice in his life. | He dismissed this as a "complete stunt", telling the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian he had been unemployed twice in his life. |
| The debate follows a welfare shake-up including cuts to housing benefit for some social housing tenants. | The debate follows a welfare shake-up including cuts to housing benefit for some social housing tenants. |
| Campaigners argue this will hit vulnerable families, but ministers say they are making difficult decisions to incentivise work. | Campaigners argue this will hit vulnerable families, but ministers say they are making difficult decisions to incentivise work. |
| Mr Duncan Smith told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday, the day the changes came into force, that he could survive on £53 a week. | Mr Duncan Smith told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday, the day the changes came into force, that he could survive on £53 a week. |
| This was the amount another speaker on the show - market trader David Bennett, from County Durham - said he would be left with. | This was the amount another speaker on the show - market trader David Bennett, from County Durham - said he would be left with. |
| 'Already done this' | 'Already done this' |
| Mr Duncan Smith's remark prompted an online petition, hosted at Change.org, calling on the work and pensions secretary "to live on this budget for at least one year". | Mr Duncan Smith's remark prompted an online petition, hosted at Change.org, calling on the work and pensions secretary "to live on this budget for at least one year". |
| It says: "This would help realise the Conservative Party's current mantra that 'We are all in this together'. | It says: "This would help realise the Conservative Party's current mantra that 'We are all in this together'. |
| "This would mean a 97% reduction in his current income, which is £1,581.02 a week or £225 a day after tax." | "This would mean a 97% reduction in his current income, which is £1,581.02 a week or £225 a day after tax." |
| More than 330,000 people had signed the petition by 22:30 BST on Tuesday. | |
| But Mr Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, told the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian: "This is a complete stunt which distracts attention from the welfare reforms which are much more important and which I have been working hard to get done. | But Mr Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, told the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian: "This is a complete stunt which distracts attention from the welfare reforms which are much more important and which I have been working hard to get done. |
| "I have been unemployed twice in my life so I have already done this. I know what it is like to live on the breadline." | "I have been unemployed twice in my life so I have already done this. I know what it is like to live on the breadline." |
| Chancellor George Osborne was also challenged about whether he could survive on £53 a week. | Chancellor George Osborne was also challenged about whether he could survive on £53 a week. |
| He said: "I don't think it's sensible to reduce this debate to an argument about one individual's set of circumstances. | He said: "I don't think it's sensible to reduce this debate to an argument about one individual's set of circumstances. |
| "We have a welfare system where there are lots of benefits to people on very low incomes." | "We have a welfare system where there are lots of benefits to people on very low incomes." |