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| Philpott: Osborne questions state 'lifestyle subsidy' | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Chancellor George Osborne has questioned whether the state should be paying for the lifestyles of people such as Mick Philpott. | |
| Philpott has been jailed for life after being found guilty of killing six of his children in a house fire. | Philpott has been jailed for life after being found guilty of killing six of his children in a house fire. |
| He has been branded a "vile product" of the benefit system by some newspapers. | He has been branded a "vile product" of the benefit system by some newspapers. |
| Asked about such claims, Mr Osborne said a debate was needed about whether the state should "subsidise lifestyles like that". | Asked about such claims, Mr Osborne said a debate was needed about whether the state should "subsidise lifestyles like that". |
| Philpott was convicted of manslaughter along with his wife Mairead and friend Paul Mosley over an arson revenge plot that went wrong. | |
| He was told he would serve a minimum of 15 years in prison, while Mairead and Mosley were told they would serve at least half their 17-year sentences. | |
| 'Horrendous crimes' | |
| Much of the coverage of the trial focused on the unemployed Philpott's lifestyle and the fact that his wife and his mistress Lisa Willis had lived at the three-bedroom council house with 11 of their children until Miss Willis moved out in February 2012. | |
| The prosecuting lawyer told the jury: "Michael Philpott did not want to work. He just wanted a house full of kids and the benefit money that brings." | |
| After his conviction, debate has raged online over claims by some commentators that Philpott was the product of an overgenerous welfare state. | |
| AN Wilson, writing in The Daily Mail, said: "The particular manner in which his nastiness was exercised, and the way in which he lived, was the direct consequence of his being able to live scot-free at the expense of the taxpayer." | |
| Mr Osborne, who this week has been defending cuts to housing benefit and other welfare changes, said: "Philpott is responsible for these absolutely horrendous crimes and these are crimes that have shocked the nation; the courts are responsible for sentencing him. | |
| "But I think there is a question for government and for society about the welfare state - and the taxpayers who pay for the welfare state - subsidising lifestyles like that, and I think that debate needs to be had." | |
| The government has repeatedly stressed it is fairer for those who work and pay taxes to reform the benefit system to encourage people to work if they can, rather than choose to live on welfare. | |
| But critics, including church groups and the Labour Party, have accused ministers of unfairly targeting the poor with some of the changes. | |
| Philpott had already achieved tabloid notoriety as "Shameless Mick" and "Britain's biggest scrounger" before his trial began. | |
| In 2006 he appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show, on ITV, to demand a bigger council house. The following year he was in a documentary with Ann Widdecombe, who was then a Conservative MP and tried to get him a job. |