Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Commons leader Chris Grayling says tax credit cuts shouldn't be looked at in isolation, but as part of a wider package - citing increases in the living wage, housing policies and increases in the personal income tax allowance.

He says Chancellor George Osborne has had to take a tough decision on tax credits in order to deal with the deficit, he says. Government shouldn't duck such decisions, he argues.

On the relationship between the House of Commons and House of Lords, the Commons leader says peers have overturned plans approved three times by the "elected" House of Commons.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Chris Grayling, the leader of the House of Commons, is asked about the government's tax credits defeat last night at the hands of the Lords - where the Conservatives don't have a majority.

Mr Grayling says the government will look at the transitional arrangements for tax credits, but stresses the government won't be distracted from its overall economic strategy. The changes are about creating a higher wage, lower welfare society, he adds.

The detail will come in the Autumn Statement, he tells Today.

Chancellor George Osborne promised "transitional help" for those affected after his party was defeated twice in the House of Lords - but he vowed to press on with changes designed to save billions from welfare.

Downing Street has also signalled a review of Lords conventions to address what it says are "constitutional issues".

Conservative MPs  reacted angrily to the defeats, accusing the House of Lords of over-stepping the mark, but Labour said the chancellor was "rocking" and demanded a "full U-turn" over the policy.

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Eleanor Garnier
Political Correspondent

The shadow chancellor, Owen Smith, has demanded that George Osborne comes to the Commons today to explain his revised plans on cuts to tax credits.

After the government was defeated in the Lords last night the Chancellor said he would announce new measures in the Autumn Statement in November to soften the impact of the cuts.

This morning Owen Smith said George Osborne "now needs not to sit on his hands for a month" but instead "come to the Commons today and explain what he's going to do".

Mr Smith said the House of Lords "spoke for the country" yesterday and "expressed the anger that many people have felt" adding that it was "absolutely right that they (peers) did their job, they scrutinised the legislation and they told the government to think again".

Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of political developments on the morning after a night of constitutional history in the House of Lords, where peers voted to defeat the government's plan to cut tax credit. The question today is how George Osborne makes the changes he says he will - and what action Downing Street will now take to change the powers of the House of Lords...