Bishop rebuffs Duncan Smith’s ‘diatribe’ in row on benefit cap

The Rt Rev John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, said yesterday he was “surprised” by the “aggressive” stance of Welfare Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, after the Minister suggested bishops should show greater concern for working people rather than fighting for the benefits of unemployed families.

Bishop Packer will today put forward a motion in the House of Lords – where he sits alongside 25 fellow Church of England bishops – to amend Mr Duncan Smith’s proposed £26,000 cap on the total amount any household can receive in payouts.

The bishop wants child benefit to be exempt, so that children in large families do not suffer disproportionately.

Yesterday leading religious figures signed a letter backing his stance, and the Government now faces a real battle when the Lords vote is taken today, with Ministers fearing a combination of Church of England bishops and rebel Lib Dems could undermine the planned £500-a-week cap on benefit payments.

Mr Duncan Smith urged the bishops to rethink their objections, insisting they were not doing the poor any favours. “The question I’d ask these bishops is, over all these years, why have they sat back and watched people being placed in houses they cannot afford? It’s not a kindness,” he said.

“I would like to see their concerns about ordinary people, who are working hard, paying their tax and commuting long hours, who don’t have as much money as they would otherwise because they’re paying tax for all of this.”

Bishop Packer said he was taken aback by the Minister’s tone. “I am surprised we have got this diatribe, a real attack on the bishops,” he said. “I’m surprised they have taken this aggressive line.

“We are not talking here about people who have £26,000 to spend, we are talking about people whose rent may be £300 or even more per week – and so that money is going out again.

“These are people who may well find it very difficult to pay the rent ... because rents have escalated.”

The bishop said he shared some of the Government’s concerns about spending on welfare but he added: “As things stand, the Bill will give the same cap to people who have no children as it will to people with a number of children. It costs money to bring up children, and there need to be some payment here for that.”

Yesterday former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown became the highest-profile figure to speak out against the plans, denouncing them as “completely unacceptable” in their current form. He said that as president of the United Nations’ children’s agency Unicef he was not prepared to vote for them.

With other Lib Dem peers also expected to vote against his plans, Mr Duncan Smith acknowledged the result could come down to the independent “crossbenchers”, including the bishops.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he “completely backed” his cabinet colleague. “It surely can’t be fair, it can’t be right, that you can be earning more on benefits, than someone going out earning £35,000,” the Sheffield Hallam MP said.

Mr Clegg suggested there was scope for softening the impact of the changes through “transitional arrangements” around the introduction of the cap but he rejected Bishop Packer’s amendment.