Brown steps into row over welfare reform

The Chancellor of the Exchequer finance minister, Gordon Brown, has stepped into the row over changes to the system of welfare benefits that has been convulsing the governing Labour Party.

Mr Brown, in an interview with The Times newspaper, said the existing system had failed to eliminate poverty and the true champions of the welfare state were not those defending the status quo, but those prepared to bring it up to date.

He said reform was not being driven by a search for economies and would be carried out with sensitivity.

Twelve people were arrested on Monday after a group of disabled protesters demonstrating against proposed cuts in disability benefits briefly blocked the entrance to Downing Street, where the prime minister lives.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service