Gordon Brown's flagship policy

Tax Credits were Gordon Brown's flagship policy so you will not be surprised to learn that like most of Gordon Brown's policies it has been a failure. Since their introduction in 2003 the amount of money lost in fraud and overpayment of tax credits has been £14,900,000,000 (that's almost $14 billion). The system is so faulty that the National Audit Office has failed to sign the accounts.

My query is this, where did the £14 billion come from? Was it in the original budget, in other words were these "losses" budgeted for? If so then were not the people setting the budget complicit in the losses? If it was not in the original budget and the extra money was just "found", then how much money is floating around Government departments to be so allocated?

As Gordon Brown always seemed to pass responsibility for answering questions on the Tax Credits debacle to a junior Treasury Minister when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and as he doesn't answer questions at PMQs now he is Prime Minister, I doubt if there is any point in David Cameron raising such questions in today's PMQs.