IAIN Duncan Smith said of himself: “Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man” – and he was absolutely right. For while we were watching the coalition government cut, cut, cut, he was planning with stealth and cunning really big cuts to the support of the UK’s vulnerable citizens – the old, the young. For the hard-working taxpayer the HM Courts and Tribunal Service has been asked by a working taxpayer to disclose the number of deaths of vulnerable members of the UK, who have died waiting for Iain Duncan Smith’s new benefit to be paid.

The Information Commissioner’s office has said that there is no reason not to publish these figures. Following this freedom of information request, the department of IDS, the Department for Work and Pensions, launched an appeal to prevent the figures being made public.

Not only is the quiet man trying to keep his entire work quiet, he also wants to hide the consequences of his work. What happened to Cameron’s open and transparent government? Is IDS following the wishes of John Major and the return to Victorian values? Or maybe it is part of our current Government philosophy to roll back the protection of the state? Maybe the workhouse.

All this within weeks of the election in which the Tories won 34 per cent of the vote. Is this part of the £12bn cuts to welfare spending? How many voters read this in the glossy Tory literature? This is a well-tried Tory tactic – they think you will forget in the next five years. Sadly, many of us will!

MIKE SPRY Mayfield Close Swindon