Tory And SNP MPs Demand Benefit Cut Debate

Some Conservative MPs are to join the SNP in demanding a debate on postponing disability benefit cuts. They will jointly call for a debate on plans to cut Employment and Support Allowance payments for sick and disabled people by £29 a week. One MP said there could be an attempt to force the government to concede at next year's Budget. The DWP said savings would be reinvested in a new package of support. Ministers announced draft plans for extra support for people affected by the cut - known as the work-related activity group - but worried Conservatives say they will not be content unless staff and funding is promised to help sick and disabled people. Read more on the BBC website.

Landowners 'Blackmail' Communities into Accepting House Building

Landowners are blackmailing communities into accepting house building by threatening to hand sites over gipsies and travellers, Tory MPs have claimed. There were warnings that traveller groups can ‘acquire highly lucrative planning rights’ which are not available to other people in order to develop land. Ministers insisted that gipsies and travellers deserve the same rights as anyone else but conceded action is needed to ‘ensure that everybody is treated equally’. During a Westminster Hall debate, MPs complained of ‘massive abuse’ of the system which sees some people become very ‘wealthy’ by claiming to be a traveller and acquiring land. Read more on the Daily Mail website.