George Osborne claims spending cuts will help create more progressive society

George Osborne today defended the coalition government's planned spending cuts, claiming they would help create a more progressive society and that income distribution was not the only measure of fairness. The chancellor was interviewed ahead of a speech he will deliver this afternoon in which he will attempt to hammer home the message that the government's attempts to tackle the deficit will not increase inequalities. "Progressiveness and fairness ... operate on a couple of levels," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "Obviously, there's income distribution ... but also it operates on other levels: intergenerational fairness ... equality of opportunity ... and social mobility, making sure people have access to the best education whatever their background." Asked whether there would be fairer income distribution by the end of the end of the coalition's five-year term, Osborne refused to commit to inequalities being reduced on that particular measure. "I hope we are a more equal and fair society, but I want that to include equality of opportunity," the chancellor said. The cuts planned by the coalition, which could lead to some departments making budget cuts of more than 25%, have led to fears that the most disadvantaged could be hit the hardest. There has also been criticism that part of the increase in the tax burden has come partly through VAT, a regressive tax whereby poorer people pay a higher percentage of their income to the Treasury. But Osborne said the coalition was helping people on low incomes, citing the ringfencing of the NHS and international development budgets, which he said were "examples of the values of fairness" underpinning the coalition. He said that £44bn of the £61bn cuts planned by the coalition had already been pencilled in by Labour and said some of the most successful centre-left governments in the world had agreed with the need for fiscal responsibility. The figures quoted by the chancellor differed from those in the budget when he said public spending would be slashed by £61bn, compared to £39bn planned by Labour. No explanation for the discrepancy was immediately available. Osborne said: "Not living beyond your means is fundamentally progressive." Osborne claimed the coalition government's actions had already helped to stabilise the economy. He ruled out the possibility of altering the balance between spending cuts and increased taxes, saying the coalition had achieved the "appropriate balance". And he played down the idea that he is locked in a battle with Iain Duncan Smith over the cost of the work and pensions secretary's welfare reforms, designed to simplify the "fundamentally unfair" benefits system. "It's not a question of the cost of the reform, it's a question of the reform leading to a fundamentally fairer society," the chancellor said. Osborne said the Treasury was making "good progress" on identifying spending cuts, describing the process as a "collective effort". But he said no department's budget had been agreed yet. Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the TUC, said Osborne "has a different definition of fairness to the rest of us". "His spending cuts are hitting the most vulnerable, his one big tax rise was VAT – the unfairest tax of all – and his economic policies are bearing down on the young, trapped between unemployment and an education sector with not enough places," he said. "Meanwhile those in banks and finance who caused the recession are back collecting their bonuses and celebrating their biggest windfall, their escape from being asked to make a proper tax contribution to clearing up the mess they made."