Nick Clegg slams Institute for Fiscal Studies conclusion on cuts

Nick Clegg hit out at an economic think-tank today after it dismissed the coalition's claims that the pain of public spending cuts had been spread fairly.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Government "fundamentally" disagreed with the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and described its measure of fairness as "a complete nonsense".

The IFS insisted yesterday that 81 billion of cuts would hit the poorest harder than most of the better off.

Its intervention undermined the Government's efforts to present the spending review as fair.

In an interview today Mr Clegg said the IFS had "airbrushed" out many of the aspects of state provision upon which poorer people depend.