The Green Party has reacted angrily to the Con/Dem budget which will see £11 billion cut from spending on welfare benefits. While the chancellor argued that measures in the budget would provide incentives to work and remove incentives to remain on benefits, the Green Party have argued that there will be no jobs to go to.

Green Party spokesperson Steven Agnew, who formerly worked with the homeless stated:
“This is a disgusting attack on the most vulnerable in our society. The spending cuts that are being proposed by the Con/Dem government will see thousands of public sector jobs being lost. This will mean an increase in the numbers relying on benefits, so by cutting those benefits we are simply kicking people when they are down. Any measures to boost private sector job creation will have benefits in the medium term at best. What are the unemployed supposed to live on in the meantime? George Osbourne may eat his words but the unemployed cannot. People in Northern Ireland will suffer most as we are heavily dependent on public sector jobs. We are not yet out of recession and this budget will only prolong it.”