CAMERON DEFENDS UNIVERSAL CREDIT
David Cameron has accused Labour of being against "every single" welfare change as he defended the Government's troubled flagship benefit reforms amid claims the business case has not been signed off.
During his weekly questions session in the Commons, he said: "The budget for Universal Credit (UC) has been signed off in each and every year by the Treasury and I believe will continue to do so.
"The good news on Universal Credit is that next year we will have one out of of eight job centres rolling out Universal Credit.
"I thought we would find the party opposite would be in favour of a system that makes work pay, but what we can see today is they have gone back into the hole of being against every single welfare change and everything that is getting this country moving."
He was responding to a question from Labour's Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley), who asked: "The head of the Civil Service says that the business case for Universal Credit has not been signed off, the Department for Work and Pensions says it has. Who is telling the truth?"
Later, Labour's Nicholas Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East) repeated the question, asking: "If the business case for Universal Credit proposals is robust, why is the head of the home civil service saying he hasn't signed it off?"
Mr Cameron said he made no apology for the fact the reforms were being rolled out slowly, in contrast to the previous government's tax credits scheme.
He said: "We have learned the lesson of the last government in which he played a prominent part, where tax credits were introduced in one go and it was a complete shambles."
Yesterday, Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge questioned whether ministers were telling the truth over the issue, after hearing evidence from civil service chief Sir Bob Kerslake, who revealed the Treasury had not fully signed off the reforms.
She suggested his account appeared to differ from that of Employment Minister Esther McVey, who has said in written parliamentary answers that the business case for UC had been approved by the Treasury, according to Labour.
