Let them eat promises...

The coalition promised that their cuts would be "progressive" and that the poorest "would be protected". Various Lib Dems have been trumpeting how the managed to soften the Tory stance and get the cuts to be more humane, less vicious...

A survey from Age UK finds evidence to dispute this rosy scenario......

"In cash terms, the poorest over-75s will lose an average of £2,030 worth of services by 2014-15 – which works out at a third (33.7%) of their household income.

Things don't look much better for the 65-74 age group either - they will miss out on £1,870 worth of services by 2014-15; just under a third (29%) of their net income.

Taken across the whole society, the research for Age UK shows that there will be serious losses for all households, but particularly for younger families with children and for older pensioners. "

Nobody I know ever actually believed that George Osborne's cuts would be so sensitively targetted and that the Conservatives would suddenly find a deep well of compassion for the poor in their traditionally hard souls.
 
These findings (and other figures published recently by the IFS)  show how right we were.
 
The big and unanswered question is, as ever, about the Lib Dems and how can they find it in their supposedly "liberal" conscience to go along with the Osborne cuts and the effect they will undoutedly have on the poorest people in our country?