Iain Duncan Smith’s declaration on yesterday’s Today programme that he could live on £53 a week (“If I had to, I would”) has inevitably prompted journalists to ask his ministerial colleagues whether they could match the Work and Pensions Secretary’s frugality. Below is how they’ve so far responded; I’ll update the list as more answers come in. In the meantime, the petition urging IDS to “prove his claim” has now garnered 218,030 signatures.
Iain Duncan Smith
“If I had to, I would.”
David Cameron
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister, like the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, feels that benefit levels are fair.”
George Osborne
“I don’t think it’s sensible to reduce this to a debate about one individual’s personal circumstances. This debate is not about any individual.”
Greg Clark (Financial Secretary to the Treasury)
“I think it’s an incredible struggle to do that and I think any MP, anyone earning the comfortable wage that an MP has would certainly struggle.
“I think the context is this – we’re all having to tighten our belts…right across the board there are difficult choices to be made, it is an incredibly difficult situation.”
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