Chris Grayling has accused the House of Lords of creating a ‘big constitutional issue’ after they voted to block tax credit cuts yesterday.

Yesterday Labour and Liberal Democrat peers supported amendments requiring Chancellor George Osborne to change his proposed £4.6billion in cuts to income subsidies for low-income families, which have been voted for three times in the House of Commons.

The MP for Epsom and Ewell, who is the leader of the House of Commons, said it ‘can’t be right’ for the unelected house to block the reforms in a televised interview this morning.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain on ITV, he said: "Of course it’s a difficult decision to have to take but we have a big task still ahead of us to balance the nation’s books and create a sound financial foundation for the next generation.

"What shouldn’t happen is unelected peers breaking the traditions of decades and throwing out a financial measure in the wake of votes in the House of Commons which said we need to go ahead with this."

 


 

The Government has been criticised for omitting tax credit cuts from its general election manifesto, but Mr Grayling rallied against this by saying they pledged £12billion in overall welfare cuts.

In a second interview the former justice secretary told Sky News this morning: "The truth is this was a part of our election manifesto. We said very clearly we were going to cut £12billion from welfare.

"That’s what we’re doing now - that’s what we’re seeking to do.

"We’ve got a situation now where the elected Government that stood on a manifesto of cutting welfare being blocked by unelected Labour and Lib Dem peers."

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