In an interview with BBC News this morning, the chancellor denied claims that changes to tax and benefits would cause working families from poorer backgrounds to suffer.
He said: "I am doing some things to really help working people and at the same time helping businesses, particularly small businesses, so that they can expand, invest and create jobs.
"We are capping benefits so that no family out of work gets more money than those in work, so we are changing the system and changing the incentives and making it clear you are better off working."
Osborne added: "Frankly, people who are going to work today are frustrated that they pay their taxes, they work long hours and a lot of that money – and frankly too much of it – goes into a welfare system that supports out of worklessness. And we are making big changes under this Government so that is no longer the case and people can be sure that their taxpayers' money will be better spent."
