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The Social Development Minister Alex Attwood is claiming a victory in his battle to encourage the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to show more flexibility in its plans for welfare reform. During recent discussions with Welfare ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Freud, Mr Attwood argued against imposing a 10% housing benefit cut for anyone unemployed for more than a year. The Guardian puts the decision to drop this proposal down to a But the SDLP politician says he got in first, pressing the case with the Liberal Democrat Lord Freud.
Despite that change there's no doubt the changes outlined today will be significant for plenty of people in Northern Ireland. The DSD reckons there are 580,000 people here who claim one benefit or another - around 1 in 3 of the population. The Westminster coalition government says some people will be better off once a new universal benefit replaces the various allowances currently on offer. But in his speech David Cameron made no bones about his desire to save money - he's planning to cut the welfare bill by £5.5 billion across the UK over the next four years - and that has to have ramifications in Northern Ireland.
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