Down with George Osborne's Welfare Uprating Bill!

George Osborne has positioned the Tories as on the side of 'strivers' (Getty Images)

George Eaton of the New Statesman is an excellent young writer - one of many prolific contributors to that magazine's website. Today, he goes through the reasons that the Chancellor's reforms to welfare, championed by Iain Duncan Smith, deserve to be defeated.

There are four reasons, according to Eaton: 1. "It will force even more of the poorest families to choose between heating and eating"; 2. "It will damage the economy by reducing real incomes"; 3. "Low wages aren't a reason to cut benefits"; 4. "There are fairer ways to cut the deficit". Each of these points is accompanied with an explanatory paragraph. You may disagree with Eaton's pithy analysis, but even if you do it's worth reading as a short, sharp and articulate description of the centre-left position on welfare.