IAIN Duncan Smith, the Work & Pensions Secretary, has let the cat out of the bag. He really believes that welfare benefits are about “dependency” and not about fairness.

Every reader of the Oxford Mail could find themselves out of work, sick, disabled and dependent on benefits tomorrow. That’s why we pay tax and national insurance.

A handful of families in Britain receive more than £500 a week in benefits because of sky-high private rents and the desperate shortage of council housing. Of course large families with more children need more money to survive.

Nobody wants to see families stay on benefits.

But the answer to this is to create jobs and pay decent wages.

That’s why Oxford City Council pays a ‘living wage’ of £8.01 an hour, not just the minimum wage.

Any family with seven or more children will lose absolutely all their housing benefit under the Government’s cap plans.

The Tories and Lib Dems should say no to the arbitrary cap.

They need look no further than the bankers running RBS if they are short of money.

Well done to the Bishop of Oxford, among others, for opposing this iniquitous attack on poverty-stricken families.

JOHN Tanner, executive member for a Cleaner, Greener Oxford; City Councillor for Littlemore; County Councillor for Isis