John Healey, the Chancellor, has said it is "not correct" that the welfare bill will be brought down in this parliament, because no timetable has been set. He was speaking to Channel 4 News on the evening of Thursday 29 October, The Telegraph reports.
This is the Chancellor's own account on the record. It goes further than the earlier Treasury and Downing Street denials. Asked to confirm there would be no cuts in this parliament, he said:
"It is not correct to say that we set any schedule or time limit for that."
"So it's not correct to say that we're going to bring this welfare bill down in this parliament because we've not set a timetable for that."
He also said: "We're certainly committed to bringing the cost of the welfare bill down. I've said that, the Prime Minister's said that."
The Telegraph's headline treats this as an admission that there will be no cuts before the election. His quoted words do not go that far. They say only that no timetable exists.
His comments match the record. The remark he made on Radio 4's Today programme that morning, "There will be a reduction in the benefits bill", gave no date and did not mention the election, although it was widely reported as a pre-election pledge.