A petition calling for the Work and Pensions Secretary to try life on benefits has been backed by almost 280,000 people. A petition calling for Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to prove his claim he could live on just £53 a week in benefits has won overwhelming support.In an interview about changes to the welfare system, Mr Duncan Smith suggested he could get by on £53 a week, as one benefit recipient argued he was having to."If I had to I would," Mr Duncan Smith told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.The MP is the architect behind controversial reforms that started coming into force this week. He currently has an after-tax income of £1,600 a week.In the wake of the comment, almost 280,000 people have backed a petition on the change.org website, calling for the minister to live up to his claim for a year.That is more signatures than any other petition currently open on the Government's e-petition website.Dom Aversano, who set up the petition, told Sky News that people felt…See More

The Chancellor insists that those who "get up in the morning and work hard" will be rewarded in the benefits shake-up.George Osborne will later defend the Government's controversial benefits shake-up - insisting Britain can no longer afford to reward people who do the "wrong thing".The Chancellor is to condemn the old system as "broken", warning Labour that they are out of step with public opinion on the issue.The intervention comes after 660,000 social housing tenants with a spare room began to lose an average £14 a week in what critics have dubbed a "bedroom tax".Wider welfare and tax changes coming into force this month will also see council tax benefit funding cut.And working-age benefits and tax credit rises will be pegged at 1% - well below inflation - for three years.Meanwhile, disability living allowance (DLA) is being replaced by the personal independence payment (Pip).Trials are due to begin in four London boroughs of a £500 a week cap on household benefits, and of the new…See More