Premier defends housing benefits caps

PRIME Minister David Cameron told opponents of housing benefit caps to "think again" yesterday as he insisted that no one would be made homeless by limiting "extravagant" benefits.

Mr Cameron declined to publicly criticise London Mayor Boris Johnson for likening the potential impact of the policy to ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. But he signalled that he was determined to press ahead with the curbs – and that he believed he had the backing of lower paid taxpayers.

Downing Street issued a rare public rebuke to the mayor yesterday, indicating the Prime Minister’s displeasure at the mayor’s stance and his choice of words.

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Asked about the senior Tory figure’s comments at a Brussels press conference, however, Mr Cameron said: “I do not want to add to what was said yesterday.”

But Mr Cameron told reporters that the payments were “too high” and had to be pared back as part of the deficit-reduction package of severe public spending cuts.

“I do not think taxpayers who pay their taxes will understand why we are being so extravagant,” he said.