labourpress:

Owen Smith MP, commenting on the Chancellor’s comments on The Andrew Marr Show, which said that the government were pressing ahead with billions of pounds of cuts to Universal Credit, said:

“This morning the Chancellor let slip that the government still hopes to try and hide cuts to tax credits in the black box of Universal Credit, but that just won’t wash. 

“Taking money from Universal Credit is simply rebadging cuts to tax credits, so will throw up all of the same problems for the Tories that the planned cuts caused in the first place.

"Osborne claimed that the Commons agreed to billions of pound of cuts to Universal Credit last week. Labour opposed these moves and forced a vote, precisely because they create yet another work penalty.  They also breach the crucial Lords amendment, which called for full transitional protection for 3 years for the 120,000 Universal Credit claimants caught up in the tax credits cuts fiasco. 

"Iain Duncan Smith should make clear that any proposed cuts to Universal Credit will be reversed. Failure to do so will destroy the idea of a social security system that incentivises work and confirm that the government’s reforms have descended in to chaos.”