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Government set to smash through own welfare cap

THE welfare spending cap imposed by Tory Chancellor George Osborne was exposed as a propaganda gimmick yesterday after leaked documents revealed the government will smash through its “limit.” 

Internal government memos obtained by the BBC show that the Tories have failed to get enough people into jobs to maintain their self-imposed £119.5 billion limit for 2015/16.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman claimed the figures represent “spurious scenarios.”

But MP Ann Begg said it showed Tory ministers had “believed their own rhetoric” about large numbers of disabled claimants being fit for work.

Her broadside followed a damning report by MPs on the personal independence payment, which replaced the disability living allowance last year.

The “fiasco” saw people, including some with terminal illnesses, being left without vital payouts as officials took months to make decisions on their cases.

Following revelations of officials screwing up their benefits shake-up, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the reports “smack not only of incompetence but of a systematic attempt to remove the safety net people depend upon when they fall on hard times.

“Taking money away from the most vulnerable in our society is not the way to make work pay,” she said.

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