Britain is accused of callousness

The government was accused of a "heartless" disregard for the poor and the elderly by the European Commissioner in charge of social affairs at a meeting of Euro MPs in Brussels yesterday.

Padraig Flynn, of Ireland, condemned the Government's interference in spending plans for the less well-off, saying he was launching a "call to arms" to defend European Union spending programmes. Last month he lost the first round of a European court fight over handing out pounds 12m in EU cash to deprived groups after Britain complained that they had not been approved by EU governments.