Iain Duncan Smith quit due to Treasury refusal to consider pensioner cuts

Iain Duncan Smith resigned from the cabinet because he was frustrated that Downing Street and the Treasury refused to consider controversial cuts to universal pensioner benefits, it has been claimed. Friends of the former work and pensions secretary said he was fed up of being asked “again and again” for cuts to working age benefits and those for disabled people, while the money spent on older voters remained untouched. Stephen Crabb appointed new work and pensions secretary That led him to write a furious resignation letter, pointing the finger at the chancellor, George Osborne, and questioning his claim of “we are all in it together”. David Cameron responded by saying he was “puzzled and disappointed” because reforms to personal independence payments (PIP) had been accepted by the Department for Work and Pensions. The prime minister said a decision to back down on the changes was also “agreed” after Tory MPs threatened to rebel. The ally of Duncan Smith said: “The letter is insincere in saying that ‘we’ve agreed not to go ahead’ – they have been very clear that they still intend to make those savings from welfare.” On Saturday, Cameron replaced the Eurosceptic Duncan Smith with the Welsh secretary, Stephen Crabb, who supports Britain’s membership of the European Union. Philippa Stroud, who co-founded the Centre for Social Justice with Duncan Smith and worked by his side implementing welfare reforms in government, said the minister felt the time had come to consider cutting pensioner benefits. She said his resignation should be seen as a “clarion call” to ministers to rebalance their cuts. “It was not appropriate to be giving away tax incentives to the middle classes, freezing fuel duty and protecting universal benefits and pensioner benefits at the time that you were making cuts to disability benefits,” Lady Stroud told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. She said Duncan Smith had come into government to “deliver a social agenda ... to protect the poorest”. He wanted to protect pensioners, she said, but the degree to which they were being supported at the expense of the poorest workers and disabled people had become too extreme. She also argued the cuts were still going to fall on the DWP, despite yesterday’s backing down on the policy. “The way the Treasury score these savings is that £1.3bn is still sitting on balance sheet. They would be coming back for more.” Senior figures inside the DWP said the PIP reforms were the “least worst” option handed to the department. The Guardian understands that one of the possibilities being discussed was a cut to benefits for disabled children that would have saved £0.5bn. The stories you need to read, in one handy email Frank Field, who chairs the work and pensions select committee, agreed the balance had become difficult for Duncan Smith to stomach. “The pensioner element of that very large [DWP] budget – the biggest part of budget – was safeguarded and increased and therefore all these cuts were on people of working age and it is this point that Iain felt the social contract was being broken,” said Field. But campaigners and Labour MPs asked why Duncan Smith had supported policies for so long – arguing he had been a driving force for many of the cuts. Rachel Reeves, who was shadow work and pensions secretary under Ed Miliband’s leadership, tweeted: “Man who introduced bedroom tax, tax credit cuts and 10 fold increase in food banks finds conscience? Or maybe this is about Brexit.” George Osborne is regarded as being damaged by Duncan Smith’s resignation. Certainly many in Downing Street believe that Duncan Smith has walked out in part because of tensions over the EU referendum, in which he is opposing Cameron by calling for Brexit. They have previously criticised his dismissal of government reports into the impact of leaving the EU as “dodgy dossiers”. Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, also questioned Duncan Smith’s resignation, calling it a “puzzle” because the PIP reforms had been agreed. He defended Osborne’s claim that “we’re all in it together” when it comes to austerity. Fallon said: “In two weeks’ time, everybody’s tax-free allowance goes up to £11,000 ... Every pensioner is getting biggest ever real-terms increase in pension ... Everybody under 40 is entitled to the lifetime savings allowance, everyone on low incomes will get a new living wage. “We weren’t taking more money away from poorer disabled money – the budget on disability has been increasing.” Thanks for reading.

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