Iain Duncan Smith resignation: Stephen Crabb says he hopes to bring 'same passion and thoughtfulness' to role as former Work and Pensions Secretary
Iain Duncan Smith quit the Cabinet and attacked the latest Budget's cuts to disability benefits as "indefensible"
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Your support makes all the difference.The new Work and Pensions Secretary has said he wants to bring "the same passion and thoughtulness" his predecessor, Iain Duncan Smith, brought to the role.
Stephen Crabb was appointed to the role after Mr Duncan Smith quit the Cabinet on Friday evening and launched an attack on the "indefensible" cuts to disabled benefits in the latest Budget.
Mr Crabb, 43, previously served as Welsh Secretary and has been an MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire since 2005.
He told Radio Pembrokeshire: "The job of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is always one that I thought maybe in the future it's a job I'd like to do.
"I am passionate about issues to do with welfare reforms, supporting people back into work, supporting people who need assistance from the state.
"Perhaps not in these circumstances, but it's obviously a huge privilege to take on the job."
When asked if he will adopt a different approach to his predecessor, he said: "Well what I hope to bring is the same passion and thoughtfulness that Iain brought to the job.
He added: "As a country when we've still got such a big budget deficit as we do still have at the moment.
"Even though we've made progress on that, difficult decisions continue to be about how best we restore this country back to balanced finances."
In his resignation letter, the Mr Duncan Smith said the latest planned cuts to disability benefits were "indefensible" in a Budget which benefited higher-earning taxpayers.
He also complained cuts to disabled benefits in the Budget were "politically driven" and suggested the Chancellor had abandoned the austerity principle of "all in this together".
The Government is reportedly preparing for a major U-turn over plans to cut Personal Independence Payments by £4.4 billion.
Backbench MPs have threatened to vote down the measure, which could leave almost 400,000 disabled people an average of £3,500 worse off.
David Cameron said he was "puzzled and disappointed" Mr Duncan Smith had quit.
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