Is the govt now looking for £15bn of cuts?

Reports via Newsnight last night -

‘The hardest policy question inside Whitehall at the moment is how to find the £12bn in welfare cuts. The narrative taking hold had been that Tories felt they couldn’t actually do the £12bn and that they would prefer to do something lower. But maybe the government could actually go further?

I understand they could. I am told Treasury officials have actually asked the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver information on £15bn worth of cuts, not just £12bn. Of course this might just be a scoping exercise. But it does suggest that the Chancellor still means business.’

.. picked up on by The Independent earlier ..

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-osborne-has-asked-iain-duncan-smith-to-find-even-deeper-cuts-to-benefits-10322799.html

Newnight also reporting -

‘We have reported on Newsnight that £5bn of cuts to tax credits are in the mix. One source now tells me the pot of money in the firing line might be £8bn and affect both child tax credits and working tax credits.

There is also a growing view that one way to address the debate about EU migrants coming to Britain and getting in work benefits… Is just to limit in work benefits. That way there would be no discrimination against non-Brits because the Brits would be restricted too.

Another idea being looked at is to take the benefit cap down from the £23,000 it is headed for right now, to below £20,000. If you could get £15bn out of welfare, then you would be softening the impact of cuts on other government departments.’