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| The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, said the government's crackdown on benefit cheats was disproportionate as only 1% of the welfare budget went on fraudulent claims. |
The leader of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales says he has been inundated with messages of support after branding the government's austerity programme a disgrace for leaving so many people in destitution.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme to mark his imminent appointment as a cardinal by Pope Francis, Archbishop Vincent Nichols expanded upon his comments to the Telegraph when he criticised the government's welfare reforms as "punitive".
"The voices that I hear express anger and despair … Something is going seriously wrong when, in a country as affluent as ours, people are left in that destitute situation and depend solely on the handouts of the charity of food banks," Nichols said. » | Matthew Weaver | Tuesday, February 18, 2014
