Nick Clegg has apparently said that he will oppose plans to cut benefits by a further £10 billion. “Who should tighten their belts first? I just start from a very simple principle that when we’re all having to make sacrifices … you ask people at the top and then you work down. You don’t ask people at the bottom and then work up.” He did previously agree, however, to £18 billion in cuts to benefit, at the same time as a reduction in the highest rate of income tax. That does suggest that Clegg’s ‘very simple principle’ is open to negotiation. The Guardian has reported that, according to Conservative sources, the further cuts are already agreed.