Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to this morning’s speech by Iain Duncan Smith, said:

“Today’s speech from Iain Duncan Smith shows how the Tories have no answers to the cost-of-living crisis facing families in the UK.

"The reality is that David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith are set to spend £15 billion more than planned on social security, with their failure to tackle the huge problems of low pay and underemployment pushing up the welfare bill.

"Labour would address the issue of low pay by strengthening the minimum wage, incentivising employers to pay a living wage and ending exploitative zero-hours contracts. And to tackle unacceptably high levels of long-term unemployment Labour would bring in a Basic Skills Test to give jobseekers the skills they need to find work and introduce a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee to give the long-term unemployed a job. These measures are essential if we are to earn our way out of the Tories’ cost-of-living crisis.”