Budget 2010: Benefits cuts will be the first battleground

A quick summary of the benefits cuts George Osborne has announced in his Budget.

Cuts include:

From this year, all benefits will rise in line with the CPI measure of inflation instead of the RPI measure, which is higher. That will save £6 billion a year by the end of the Parliament he said.
The move will mean real-terms cuts in benefits payments, but Mr Osborne said it was “fairer” than a simple benefits freeze.

Tax credits will be taken away from families earning over 40,000. Changes in thresholds will cut payments to those on lower incomes.

Child Benefit will be frozen for the next three years. Mr Osborne said he had considered means-testing the benefit but rejected the plan.

Existing claimants of Disability Living Allowance will face new medical tests.

Housing benefits payments will be cut by £1.8 billion, 7 per cent overall, by capping payments.

Welfare now costs £192 billion a year, a “staggering” increase of 45 per cent in a decade, Mr Osborne said. “We are wasting the talents of millions and spending billions on it,” he said.

His cuts will save £11 billion a year by the end of the Parliament, he said.

Judging by the expressions of Labour people in the Commons, and initial blog and tweet reactions, welfare will be the focus of Labour attacks. I'd guess the child benefit freeze will be a big issue, followed by housing and DLA.