Day: July 9, 2015

    The Chancellor has denied “targeting” young people with cuts a day after wielding the axe against housing and education assistance for young people on low incomes. George Osborne’s budget, delivered on Wednesday, excluded under-25s from a flagship living wage policy, banned them from claiming housing benefit, and scrapped grants for low-income students. But Mr Osborne said his changes would be “good for them”, referring to young people. “I don’t accept that we’re targeting young people – this is all about investing in apprenticeships and universities,” he told Sky News. “I am saying – look, I’m sorry, you can’t come out of school, go straight onto benefits, claim housing benefits. “That’s not what a working young person is able to do in the sense that they often have...

    Metropolitan police managing crowds of people queuing for buses at Stratford station in London during the tube strike. Londoners have had to deal with severe disruption to their morning commute during the biggest strike on the London Underground for 13 years. Commuters faced lengthy and difficult trips to work on Thursday after the 24-hour industrial action, which began at 6.30pm on Wednesday, forced the entire tube network to close for the first time since 2002. Some rail and bus services were reported to be full before 6am, and most cabs were booked up from Wednesday night. Some commuters walked to work in bright sunshine. One traveller said police had been called to a bus stop after the driver refused to move the bus because it was too full. Writing on Twitter, th...