Archbishop Slams Cameron's 'Big Society'

The Archbishop of Canterbury has attacked David Cameron's "big society", saying it comes across as "aspirational waffle".

Rowan Williams says the prime minister's flagship policy - which had stated aim of empowering local people and communities - conceals "a deeply damaging withdrawal of the state from its responsibilities to the most vulnerable".

The criticism is made in a new book, extracts of which have been quoted in The Observer newspaper, and comes as Mr Cameron revealed he is considering axing most of the £1.8bn in housing benefit paid to the under-25s.

Mr Williams, who steps down in December after 10 years in his role as archbishop, writes: "The big society, introduced in the run-up to the last election as a major political idea for the coming generation, has suffered from a lack of definition about the means by which such ideals can be realised.

"Big society rhetoric is all too often heard by many therefore as aspirational waffle designed to conceal a deeply damaging withdrawal of the state from its responsibilities to the most vulnerable."

He suggests that ministers have fuelled cynicism over the Cameron vision by failing to define what the role of citizens should be.

"And if the big society is anything better than a slogan looking increasingly threadbare as we look at our society reeling under the impact of public spending cuts, then discussion on this subject has got to take on board some of those issues about what it is to be a citizen and where it is that we most deeply and helpfully acquire the resources of civic identity and dignity."

No 10 said: "The launch of Big Society Capital in April is a concrete example of the government delivering on its plans - £600m to help create a funding model that is truly self-sustaining and that will help charities and social enterprises to play their part in building a bigger society."

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of young people could be stripped of housing benefit and forced to live with their parents as part of a new welfare crackdown signalled
by Mr Cameron.

The PM insisted the system was giving the wrong incentives as he urged more action to prevent feckless families relying on state handouts.

The comments, in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, come ahead of a keynote speech on welfare Mr Cameron is due to deliver next week.

The measures said to be under consideration include scrapping most of the £1.8bn in housing benefits paid to 380,000 under 25s, worth an average £90 a week, forcing them to support themselves or live with their parents instead.

Also, stopping the £70-a-week dole payment for individuals who do not try hard enough to get work, and forcing a hard core of unemployed to do community work after two years - or lose all their benefits.

New welfare clampdown could axe housing benefit from under-25s

Hundreds of thousands of young people could be stripped of housing benefit and forced to live with their parents as part of a new welfare crackdown signalled by David Cameron.

The Prime Minister insisted the system was giving the wrong incentives as he urged more action to prevent feckless families relying on state handouts.

The comments, in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, come ahead of a keynote speech on welfare Mr Cameron is due to deliver next week.

The measures said to be under consideration include scrapping most of the £1.8 billion in housing benefits paid to 380,000 under 25s, worth an average £90 a week, forcing them to support themselves or live with mum and dad instead.

It could also mean stopping the £70-a-week dole payment for individuals who do not try hard enough to get work and forcing a hard core of unemployed to do community work after two years - or lose all their benefits.

According to the newspaper, ministers are also looking again at plans to limit child benefit to a couple's first three children - although Mr Cameron will stop short of raising the idea.

Mr Cameron said the existing benefits system was "sending out strange signals on working, housing and families".

He went on: "A couple will say, 'We are engaged, we are both living with our parents, we are trying to save before we get married and have children and be good parents.'

"'But how does it make us feel, Mr Cameron, when we see someone who goes ahead, has the child, gets the council home, gets the help that isn't available to us?' One is trapped in a welfare system that discourages them from working, the other is doing the right thing and getting no help."

Asked if he would take action against large families who were paid large sums in benefits, the premier replied: "This is a difficult area but it is right to pose questions about it. At the moment the system encourages people not to work and have children, but we should help people to work and have children."

©Press Association

No plan for Lords reform referendum

The coalition has decided against holding a referendum on reforming the House of Lords, it has been revealed.

The outcome will be seen as a victory for Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, after David Cameron hinted that he could back a national poll.

Historic plans for introducing a largely elected second chamber are due to be published next week. It could begin operating in 2015, but the legislation is facing fierce resistance from Tories and Labour peers.

Critics have argued that the changes should not be a priority at a time of economic crisis, and said such a major constitutional reform requires a referendum.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has also suggested a vote will be needed, while the Prime Minister signalled he could back asking the public.

However, Mr Clegg has insisted that a referendum is unnecessary because Lords reform featured in the election manifestos of all three main parties.

Government sources have now confirmed that a national poll - which could have cost more than £100 million - will not feature in the plans.

Mr Cameron is said to have secured concessions in return, including making it clear that the new-look chamber cannot block legislation passed by the House of Commons.

The legislation is expected to propose cutting the number of Lords from around 900 to 300, with at least 80% of peers being elected.

Elections would be held every five years and appointed or hereditary peers will progressively be replaced by the new elected "senators". Each senator will serve for a single term of 15 years and will represent a region rather than a traditional constituency, similar to the European Parliament system.

PM Defends Jeremy Hunt's Handling Of BSkyB Bid

The move to grant Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt responsibility for overseeing Rupert Murdoch's bid for BSkyB was not "botched" according to the Prime Minister.

Testifying before the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics, David Cameron admitted that the pressures of the 24 hour news cycle led him to make a quick decision about the replacement for Business Secretary Vince Cable, when it was revealed Dr Cable was secretly recorded making inappropriate comments about "declaring war" on Mr Murdoch.

Mr Cameron admitted he had forgotten about an email Jeremy Hunt had sent to him, supporting theNews Corp bid, just weeks before the Culture Secretary was handed oversight of the process.

Although the Prime Minister acknowledged that email would have been considered in decision making process, he told the hearing it would not have changed the outcome.

Mr Cameron said he was given detailed legal evidence from Government lawyers and senior civil servants supporting the decision to let Jeremy Hunt take on the role.

"The haste was it was 3pm. The Business Secretary had said something which couldn't stand," Mr Cameron said.

"In this 24 hour news environment you cannot just spend hours or half days working out what you are going to do next."

But he added: "It was not some rushed, botched political decision."

The inquiry was told that extra training and guidance for Ministers and their special advisers would be given in the wake of controversy over the contact Jeremy Hunt's Department had with News Corporation at the time of their bid for BSkyB.

Mr Hunt's adviser Adam Smith resigned after admitting his contacts with a News Corp lobbyist had been too close.

On Wednesday, the Culture Secretary survived a Labour bid to secure Commons support for him to be investigated by a watchdog for alleged breaches of the ministerial code, including his responsibility for Mr Smith's actions.

The PM said there were lessons to be learned from that case and signalled that he was consulting with senior Whitehall mandarins on changes to the code - but said they were "not enormous".

The Prime Minister also told the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London that the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson would never have been hired as his communications director if there had been any evidence Mr Coulson knew about phone hacking.

Mr Cameron said he sought specific assurances over the issue, before hiring the former tabloid editor in 2007.

A few months earlier Mr Coulson had resigned from the News of the World, after the conviction of the newspaper's Royal editor and a private investigator for hacking into the voicemail messages of royal aides.

The Prime Minister said he met Mr Coulson in March 2007 at his Westminster offices.
"I raised the issue of phone hacking and sought the assurance in the face to face meeting we had in my office." He said.

"I knew it was very important to ask him that question and i did so."

Mr Cameron admitted he knew the appointment of Andy Coulson was controversial, because of what had happened at the Sunday newspaper and because he had been a tabloid editor.

The Prime Minister said: "I was giving him a 2nd chance."

"He did the job very effectively... there weren't any complaints about the way he conducted himself. He ran a very effective team."

Mr Cameron said although he had been given advice from some not to hire him: "I needed someone tough and robust."

He told Robert Jay QC, Counsel to the Inquiry that the decision rested with him, he took responsibility: "You don't make decisions with 20/20 hindsight.. you don't try to run away from it."

The Prime Minister said that if he had been lied to, then so had the Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, a Parliamentary select committee and many others who had accepted those assurances.

He added: "If someone had given me evidence he knew about phone hacking, I wouldn't have employed him and I would have fired him."

The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London was also shown more evidence about the close relationship between the Prime Minister and former Chief Executive of News International Rebekah Brooks  .

A text message between the pair was read to the inquiry.

Sent by Mrs Brooks on the eve of Mr Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party conference in 2009, and just days after The Sun switched its support to his party from Labour, it said: "I'm so rooting for you tomorrow not just as a proud friend but because professionally we are in this together. Speech of your life? Yes he Cam!"

Asked to explain the message, Mr Cameron said: "The Sun had made this decision to back the Conservatives, to part company with Labour.

"The Sun wanted to make sure it was helping the Conservative Party put its best foot forward with the policies we were announcing, the speech I was making. That's what that means."

He went on: "We were friends. But professionally, me as leader of the Conservative Party, her in newspapers, we were going to be pushing the same political agenda."

Mr Cameron acknowledged Rebekah Brooks is a close friend. He said their friendship had grown closer in recent years, after the former tabloid editor married the Prime Minister's neighbour, racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks.

The Brooks' are among a group of people charged in relation to an alleged attempt to cover-up phone hacking and other criminality at the News of World.

The couple made their first court appearance on Wednesday.

©Sky News

PM At Leveson Live

Cameron, Osborne, Brown and Clegg At Leveson Nex Teek

David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne are among a list of political heavyweights due to appear before the Leveson Inquiry next week.

The Prime Minister has been called to give evidence to the probe into media ethics at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday.

Ex-PM Gordon Brown and Mr Osborne will be first up on Monday, followed by Labour leader Ed Miliband, his deputy Harriet Harman and former prime minister Sir John Major on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will take the stand, as well as Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party.

Mr Cameron is likely to be questioned about his relationship with the media, News Corporation chief executive and chairman Rupert Murdoch, and his friendship with former News Of The World editor Rebekah Brooks.

The PM is also likely to be grilled over his decision to hand Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt the responsibility for overseeing News Corp's BSkyB bid.

At the last hearing on May 31 before a one-week break, Mr Hunt survived a six-hour grilling over his handling of the process .

Mr Cameron judged afterwards that the cabinet minister had acted "properly" and decided not to order an investigation into whether he had breached the ministerial code of conduct.

Mr Hunt also insisted there was no reason for him to quit, insisting he handled the bid with "scrupulous fairness" - though he admitted in his evidence that he had considered resigning.

He also suggested he regretted text messages he exchanged with senior figures from News Corp.

The inquiry also heard he sent text messages to Mr Osborne expressing his fears the Government was going to "screw up" the deal when secret recordings of Business Secretary Vince Cable "declaring war" on News Corp emerged.

Mr Cable was later stripped of his responsibilities for the media.