George Osborne to trim further £10bn from welfare bill

With the economic downturn dragging on longer than expected, the government’s aim to bringing public debt down by 2015 is slipping out of reach. The benefits budget is the latest area to bear the brunt, with Chancellor George Osborne promising to slice a further £10bn off the expensive welfare bill.

The welfare budget, by far the biggest of all departmental spending, is estimated to come in at £207bn this year - almost a third of total spending.

Housing help for under-25s and people who continue to have children they can’t afford will be targeted to cut that figure, Osborne will tell the Conservative Party conference today.

Labour wants to see more taxes on banks and the rich, but Osborne is sticking to his austerity measures. Some £18bn in cuts are already under way. There’s still a long way to go to drive down the UK’s £1.04tn debt pile. But will further austerity help or hinder that objective?