‘We mustn’t cut a penny more’: Vince Cable rejects benefits freeze

 
Carved up: Vince Cable faced the prospect of facing Zac Goldsmith
20 September 2012
WEST END FINAL

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Vince cable today rejected calls for a freeze in benefits payments, saying that the Coalition should stick to its spending plans by “not a penny more, not a penny less”.

The Business Secretary’s stance, revealed in an interview with the Evening Standard , contrasted with the refusal this week by senior Lib-Dem sources to rule out the idea.

“We’ve used the phrase not a penny more, not a penny less,” he says. “I’m implementing spending cuts and it’s very tough. We are not agreeing anything over and above the cuts that have already been agreed in the spending review.”

The spending review lasts until 2014/15, but government sources this week floated the idea that a two-year benefits freeze could be announced in December. Neither Tory nor Lib-Dem sources have dismissed the plan.

Mr Cable also predicts that Mr Clegg’s ratings — which hit an all-time low in yesterday’s Standard poll — would rise as the election approaches.

However, Mr Clegg’s apology for his broken pledge not to raise university fees was still attracting controversy today.

In a party political broadcast to be shown on television on Monday, he says: “There’s no easy way to say this: we made a pledge. We didn’t stick to it — and for that I am sorry.”

The Liberal Democrat Voice website carried comments calling it a “deceitful sham of an apology” to saying that it would “win back lost trust”.

Party chiefs were today understood to be seriously considering allowing satirical website Poke to release its comedy remix of the apology as a charity single to be sold on iTunes.

Labour announced that there would be a Commons vote in October on reducing £9,000 tuition fees — a move aimed at embarrassing Mr Clegg by making him vote for the rise again. A Labour source said: “ Clegg must not be allowed to get away with his spineless apology. We will force a vote so he can back his words with action.”

However, Education minister David Laws said: “Every Liberal Democrat MP has collective responsibility. This was not just a promise from Nick.”

Former Clegg aide Richard Reeves wrote in the New Statesman about the Lib-Dem party conference that opens on Saturday in Brighton: “For four days and nights the question in the sea air will be: Clegg or no Clegg?”

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