Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Treasury Minister, responding to reports today on tax credits said:

“This is a huge blow to the Chancellor. Not only has a Conservative-controlled select committee demanded he U-turns on his tax credit cuts, but one of his own MPs is now even suggesting he considers proposals similar to Labour’s alternative plan as an option.

“Labour has said we will support George Osborne if he reverses his tax credit cuts fairly and in full. And we have provided him with a plan so he meets his own self-imposed Charter by targeting a lower surplus and reversing his tax giveaways to a wealthy few.

“Now his inability to take a lead on this issue is seeing even Tory MPs follow Labour proposals.

“It’s about time George Osborne simply stops playing cynical political games with this issue and just accepts he was wrong to cut £1,300 a year from over 3 million working families and reverses his work penalty.”

See: Daily Telegraph: Heidi Allen, a Tory MP and member of the committee, urged the government to “rethink” its plans. “We are at a critical point in our recovery and this would be jeopardised if we returned to the bad old days of being ‘better off out of work’,” she said.“I know there are no easy answers, but I sense the majority of people in this country would back the Chancellor if he revisited other possible areas of savings; budget surplus levels or Inheritance tax thresholds for example. We talk so often about ‘all being in this together’: now is the time to put that mantra into action.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11987275/MPs-warn-George-Osborne-off-raiding-Iain-Duncan-Smiths-budget-to-help-fund-tax-credits-cut.html